A woman from Grimsby with a previous record of preying on the elderly has received a three-year prison sentence following the theft of a wallet from a vulnerable senior. Michelle Walker, aged 42, took advantage of an open door to enter the man’s home on Newby Road. She made a pretence of offering the man household items for sale before making off with his wallet, which contained £300. The experience has left its mark on the victim, who now feels ‘imprisoned’ in his own house and has had to resort to installing security cameras to regain his sense of security. The offender, Walker, confessed to the burglary in Hull Crown Court. She is known for her record of 48 previous offences, 15 of which are related to theft, thus categorising her as a ‘third-strike’ burglar. Despite this, Ms Walker’s defence argued that she is making an effort to turn her life around while in custody, pointing to her long-standing struggle with heroin addiction. Recorder Ayesha Smart made a point of the significant emotional toll the crime has taken on the victim, who lives on a tight budget, and called attention to Walker’s repeated behaviour of zeroing in on elderly victims. At the time of her arrest, Walker had £125 of the stolen money still on her.
This article has been based on original reporting from www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk.
