Thief locked his gran in shed

A Welshpool man who imprisoned his frail grandmother in a freezing cold shed and then went to her home and stole her cash, has been jailed for 18 months.The victim, 62-year-old Dorothy Harrison, feared she would be left in the shed all night but fortunately a neighbour heard her cries for help and freed her, Mold Crown Court heard.

The neighbour had phoned police three times after hearing noises, but when officers arrived they had been unable to find anything amiss.

Richard Harrison, 21, of Oldford Close, Welshpool, admitted false imprisonment, damage and theft.

Judge John Rogers QC told: “Your grandmother, who gave you a home and fed you, is a lady with mobility problems and who suffers from asthma.

“On this night you lured her out of her own home into the shed, which you locked. You ignored her pleas to be released.

“You then went back into her home, smashed her china cabinet and stole £15 of her cash.

“Had it not been for neighbour Geoffrey Meredith, your grandmother might well have spent the whole night in that shed which could have had a fatal effect on her health. Only prison is appropriate.”

Harrison was said to be a vulnerable man with learning difficulties who would find it difficult to cope in jail.

But the judge said in the past he had been made the subject of community orders but had ignored them.

Mr Gareth Preston, prosecuting, said Mrs Harrison had taken her grandson in when his mother refused to let him live with her.

One day in February, she asked for help with the television remote control but he snatched it from her, called her names and told her she was not allowed to use it.

He went to a concrete shed where he turned off the electricity, leaving her in the dark. She struggled to the shed to try to put it back on after he had refused, but he locked her in, saying that he would leave her there all night.

She had probably been locked in the shed for about two hours.

Mr Andrew Green, for Harrison, said he now appreciated he had caused his grandmother real distress and was ashamed of himself.

By Deborah Knox