A "dangerous" burglar left an OAP bleeding on the floor as he barged his way out of his flat having stolen his £640 of savings.
Liverpool Crown Court heard on Monday how Anthony Sinnott, 43, deliberately targeted 84-year-old Charles Bond's home address at Devon Place, a cul-de-sac in Widnes on January 22 last year, entering via a door that had been left ajar to allow Mr Bond’s pet cat to come and go. Sinnott, of Hornby Road, Liverpool, was convicted of burglary and assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH) at trial, meaning there was no formal opening of the case at sentencing on Thursday, and instead a summary was provided by Judge David Swinnerton.
Judge Swinnerton said Mr Bond - known to friends as "Bob" - lived alone with his cat and was a “proud” and “robust” man and was in the habit of leaving the door ajar for his cat despite advice against it from a friend. He also kept his money at home, again despite opposing advice from a friend.
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Judge Swinnerton said that at that time Sinnott lived within a couple of miles of Mr Bond and on the night in question arrived on the last train from Warrington, whereupon at about midnight he went to Mr Bond’s ground floor flat.
The judge said: “You walked in through the door. You went straight to his bedroom and his wallet which contained £640 - for him a significant and substantial sum as an elderly pensioner - and you took that wallet.
“As he tried to stop you, you pushed him. I accept you didn’t use any weapon; it was pushing and shoving. He fell to the floor, cutting his head above his eye, which bled fairly profusely.”
Judge Swinnerton told Sinnott he had left his victim "bleeding on the floor".
Mr Bond also suffered pain in his shoulder the next day. A friend found him at 10.30am with “dried blood still caking the area around his eye.”
Judge Swinnerton cited a victim personal statement provided by prosecuting barrister Jonathan Rogers, who said Mr Bond has felt “anxious” since the incident, and that it “now worries him when he opens his front door”, having been what Mr Rogers described as a “stoic” person, although friends had said he was “vulnerable”.
The judge noted Mr Bond was “a vulnerable individual but a well-liked one with support from family and friends”.
Mr Rogers said the burglary happened while Sinnott was on licence having been released from prison for another burglary a month earlier.
Paul Wood, defending, said Sinnott suffers from schizophrenia and anxiety and is medicated for both, and both of which he said “affect the defendant’s function”.
He added Sinnott has cancer with his remaining life expectancy “expected to be up to several years, perhaps a decade”, which he said could make him “medically vulnerable” and “susceptible to infection”.
Mr Wood argued against classing Sinnott as a dangerous offender on the basis Sinnott’s most serious conviction for violence was Section 18 grievous bodily harm (GBH) from 2020, over an offence Sinnott said was from 1998 when he would have been about 19 or 20, meaning “no real weight can be placed on that”, while most of his other violent offences were “low level assaults in a domestic setting” and a Section 18 ABH from 2007, which he contended didn’t amount to a “risk of serious harm”.
The judge pointed out that Sinnott’s previous burglary victim was also “vulnerable” because they had been a wheelchair user, and that when considering the potential risk for future harm he was satisfied Sinnott could be classed as “dangerous”.
He said Sinnott had 53 previous convictions including six for domestic burglary in addition to thefts from dwellings, the cases of GBH and ABH, common assaults and battery.
Judge Swinnerton said Sinnott had difficulties including substance misuse issues and had problems picking up his methadone prescription, but added his pre-sentence report said Sinnott continues to deny the burglary and ABH and has “pro-criminal attitudes”.
He sentenced Sinnott to five years in prison for burglary and two years consecutive for ABH with an extended licence period of three years, totalling a seven-year custodial term with three years on extended licence - meaning he could potentially serve 10 years in prison if he breaches his licence.
Sinnott, previously of Widnes, will have to serve half of the burglary plus two thirds of the ABH before being considered for parole.
Judge Swinnerton said the burglary targeted a vulnerable victim and involved planning, with Sinnott having been seen in the close with no reason to be there two or three days earlier, and having allowed the batteries to run down on his electric tag to disrupt the authorities’ ability to track him.
He said: “Considering the overall picture, in particular targeting of vulnerable people, I’m satisfied you do present such a risk.
“In relation to the ABH, I find you are dangerous and I intend to pass an extended sentence for ABH.”
The ECHO reported in 2019 how Sinnott held his most recent previous burglary victim, an 83-year-old man, in a headlock after breaking in using a screwdriver in November 2018.
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