Woman jailed for robbing pensioner of £13 at home

Lauren Johnson, 29, was sentenced to 21 months in prison after the robbery in Scarborough

A woman who helped carry out the violent robbery of a 72-year-old man for the £13 contents of his wallet has been jailed.

Lauren Johnson and accomplice Andrew Ratcliffe tricked their way into the victim's home in Scarborough in September, with the victim punched about 30 times during the attack.

Johnson, 29, of Whitehead Hill, Scarborough, pleaded guilty to burglary at York Crown Court and was sentenced to 21 months in prison.

Ratcliffe, 33, of Sewell Road, Bradford, was sentenced to eight and a half years in January for burglary offences, with North Yorkshire Police calling the pair a "scourge on society".

The force said Johnson and Ratcliffe knocked on the victim’s window and asked for a glass of water, before Ratcliffe climbed in.

Johnson kept watch outside, the force said, closing the window so "nobody could hear the victim’s cries for help".

The victim believed he would have been killed had he not complied with the demands for money, police said.

Det Con Sam Rivers, of North Yorkshire Police, called it a "shameful and vicious" attack.

“This has clearly been a planned and orchestrated robbery of a 72-year-old victim in his own home," the officer said.

“Offenders who commit this sort of crime are a scourge on society."

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