Bradford man spared jail after turning on his Addingham mum (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Bradford man spared jail after turning on his Addingham mum

9:00am Saturday 11th February 2012 in News By Tanya O'Rourke

A vulnerable, elderly woman was left feeling like a recluse, incarcerated in her own bedroom, after her son “turned on” her, a Court heard yesterday.

Paul Burns, 49, was told by Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC he had been a “hair’s breadth” from being jailed for an assault on his 86-year-old mother.

Burns, of North Avenue, had admitted at an earlier hearing to causing Rose Burns actual bodily harm on August 7 last year when he lived with her in Addingham.

Bradford Crown Court heard he drank three pints of lager at Addingham Social Club before returning home and having an argument with his mother about the whereabouts of their cat.

She brandished scissors, but the court heard he accepted in sober mind she posed no risk to him. He grabbed for the scissors, causing her to fall from her bed.

A statement from her revealed what the judge described as “something of a torment” she had suffered for some time, caused by her son who, the court heard, drank alcohol when difficulties arose.

Prosecutor Richard Smith said Burns, a videographer, had equipment in nearly every room.

Mrs Burns was confined to her room, with use of the kitchen and bathroom, and would eat her breakfast on the stairs.

“She felt she lived like a recluse, incarcerated in her own room,” he said. “He took control of her post, bank cards, stopped her seeing friends on occasions.”

He said Mrs Burns’ confidence had been shattered and she no longer felt safe in her home.

Judge Durham Hall said Burns had “flung back” the love and care his mother had shown.

He said: “You have made her life something of a torment for some time, no doubt through the drink and personality problems and lack of moral fibre, you were not quite the man that your friends and others think you are.”

He sentenced Burns to 12 months in prison suspended for two years with supervision for 12 months and ordered him to complete 200 hours’ unpaid work, he said, to hold over his head the prospect of imprisonment and give him some assistance.

The judge added: “Elderly relatives are to be cherished, they are to be loved and they are to be protected and those who turn against them in this brutal way will be punished.”