JAILED: Burglar stole from blind woman and his own father

Albie Daley, who had previous convictions involving 89 separate offences, stole from a woman who had showered him with kindness as well as taking advantage of his 80-year-old father, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

The woman had done the 49-year-old cocaine addict’s washing and cooked him meals.

He repaid the favours by slipping into the home of the 65-year-old victim to steal her TV while she was having a shower on July 16 – and sold it for next to nothing to buy his next fix, explained Mr Nicholas Burns, prosecuting.

In a statement, the woman said she had been left frightened in her own home by the burglary and confessed: “I now know I should not be so trusting. What he did has left me wary and worried.”

Four months earlier the painter and decorator fled with his father’s wallet and bank card when spotted after getting into his ground-floor flat through a window during the early hours of March 6.

Daley used the card to withdraw £320 from the pensioner’s account, continued the prosecutor.

The devastated father now felt he was an ‘easy target’ for his son, the court was told.

Miss Sarah Allen, defending, claimed the defendant, who had been addicted to drugs for 20 years, was ‘ashamed’ of what he had done.

He had let himself down twice while trying to stay out of trouble but was now delighted to be drug free after spending five months behind bars on remand waiting for the case to be resolved, it was said.

Daley, from Ash Street in Graiseley, Wolverhampton, admitted the two burglaries and was jailed by Judge Dean Kershaw who branded the crimes as ‘despicable.’

He told Daley: "It was disgraceful the way you targeted a vulnerable lady who you knew lived alone because she had helped you in the past.

"You repaid that kindness by getting into her home and you took her TV, her one link with the outside world that gave her enjoyment and pleasure."