Worksop women stole vulnerable pensioner’s savings from his own home

Valentine Adams and Ashley Wilson visited the 66-year-old man's home on Kent Close at 8am on June 10, 2021, and asked for a cup of tea, said prosecutor Stefan Fox.

The man, who knew Adams from previous visits when she asked for money, refused because his carer was due and the pair left.

He didn't realise the tub, which contained between £300 and £400, was missing until his sister asked for some change later that day.

They denied burglary but pleaded guilty to theft on the day of a trial, in April last year. Their victim, who suffered from 'debilitating health difficulties' and used a wheelchair, passed away not long afterwards.

Nottingham Crown Court heard that Adams, aged 32, has 22 previous convictions for 48 offences, including 23 theft and dishonesty matters.

She was last in trouble in March 2022 when she was jailed for eight weeks. At the time of the offence she was on bail to Nottingham Magistrates Court for theft and vehicle interference.

Wilson, aged 30, has six convictions for 21 offences, and last appeared in court in December 2021, when she was given a 12-week suspended sentence for assaulting an emergency worker.

Mr Fox said: "His money was plainly important as he had very limited income."

Aaron Dinnes said Adams 'simply saw an opportunity and took it' because of her ‘significant problems’ with heroin and crack cocaine.

Postnatal depression prevented her from engaging with the probation service but she is now motivated to sort her problems out, he said.

Digby Johnson said Wilson had been out of trouble for five years before ‘committing acquisitive crime to feed a drug habit that had got a real hold on her’.

He said she has completed a drug rehabilitation requirement and now has a 20-week-old child who is 'her strongest possible motivation to stay out of trouble'.

On Friday, Recorder Stuart Sprawson told them: "That money was virtually all his worldly goods and you took it away for your own self-serving gain."

Adams, of John Street, was jailed for 15 months and Wilson, of Potter Street, received 12 months, suspended for 18 months.