'Despicable' Maryport woman Louise Barber jailed for burglaries

Louise Barber was jailed for 32 months

A "despicable" burglar who targeted two older women on the same day has been jailed for almost three years.

Louise Barber, 36, took a purse containing £135 from a 76-year-old woman after her victim had given her a £2 bus fare, Carlisle Crown Court.

She then stole £4.50 from a 96-year-old woman with Parkinson's disease.

Barber was jailed for 32 months after admitting two burglaries with Judge Richard Archer calling her "mean and despicable".

'Sod off'

The court heard Barber went to one woman's address and claimed to be looking for a friend.

When the victim said she would give her the bus fare, Barber replied: "You are very kind. You don't get many kind people in the world today."

While the woman was also getting her a bottle of water, Barber swiped her purse, prosecutor Gerard Rogerson said.

Later that evening Barber went to the home of her second victim but the woman and her carer refused to give her any money.

Barber stole £4.50 from a ledge with the carer telling her: "You've got enough now, so sod off."

'Not kind'

Mr Rogerson said the second victim had been left "very worried", and in a statement she said: "I still get that fear that she is going to come back."

Barber, a former office manager and Sellafield worker, was now said by her lawyer to be "horrified" by the opportunistic offences she had committed while addicted to drugs and having hit "rock bottom".

The judge told Barber, of Eaglesfield Street, Maryport: "Your victims in each case were elderly women.

"That much was obvious to you at the time as you had significant interaction with the victims of your offending.

"These were mean and despicable offences.

"You certainly were not a kind person in this world."