Allesley woman, 93, left penniless after window cleaner plundered her savings

A window cleaner preyed on a 93-year-old customer clearing out her savings account down to the last penny.

Joshua Bruce, 19, is now behind bars after taking the Coventry womans pension card and stealing money from her Post Office account.

After the thefts were discovered, the defendant was caught because police were waiting for him when he returned to his vulnerable victims home.

Bruce, of Jardine Crescent, Tile Hill, was jailed for six months by a judge after he admitted four charges of fraud and one of possessing cannabis.

At the crown court in Leamington, prosecutor Tim Sapwell said Bruce knew his aged victim because he worked for the person who had the contract to clean her windows.

The pensioner had a Post Office account into which her pension was paid every fortnight, and a friend withdrew money from the account on her behalf for her to pay for food deliveries and so on.

Bruce turned up at her home in Allesley on May 21 to clean the windows, and he also cleaned out the guttering.

When he had finished he went inside where she gave him something to eat, and while he was there he walked round the house on the pretext of going to the toilet, during which he took her Post Office card and pin number from her purse.

He withdrew 300 from her Post Office account and later replaced the card, but took it again on three further occasions to withdraw 200, 300 and, on June 2 after checking the account balance, 272.81.

He must have known that last withdrawal represented the cleaning out of her account, said Mr Sapwell.

Originally posted here:
Allesley woman, 93, left penniless after window cleaner plundered her savings