An elderly former mayor was followed from a bank to his home by a robber, who then forced his way inside the house to attack the 82-year-old victim and steal his wallet. Noel Spencer, who used to be the ceremonial mayor of Bolton, first spotted Muhammed Tehseen while he was depositing a cheque at the Bolton town centre branch of Royal Bank of Scotland on the morning of February 7.
He noticed Tehseen was following him and tried to shake off the 31-year-old by going into Poundland and Morrisons. However Tehseen kept stalking his victim and even sat behind him on a bus back to his Farnworth home.
When Mr Spencer opened his front door, vile Tehseen pushed him inside, through the living room and then onto the bed where he punched him several times, kicked him to the floor and stole his wallet.
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Within 15 minutes, he used Mr Spencer's card at a local newsagents, prosecution barrister Andrew MacKintosh told Bolton Crown Court. Tehseen, of Eustace Street, Great Lever, was caught after Mr Spencer's son got CCTV from the store and circulated it on WhatsApp, where a number of people replied to name Tehseen as the culprit.
He was arrested and found in possession of Mr Spencer's card, as well as a small amount of cannabis.
During his police interview, Tehseen admitted to being at the bank and the newsagents and being in possession of Mr Spencer's wallet. He answered ' no comment' to the rest of the questions but pleaded guilty to robbery, fraud and possession of cannabis at a plea hearing.
Shirlie Duckworth, defending, told the court Tehseen was a man of previous good character, with no convictions or cautions. She added that due to him not cooperating with the preparation of a psychiatric report, there is no 'proper explanation' for what he did.
"The breakdown of his marriage clearly had impact on him, however there no further information to properly explain why he committed such a serious offence," Miss Duckworth said.
She told the court that Tehseen is a father-of-two and previously worked as a taxi driver.
The Honorary Recorder of Bolton Judge Martin Walsh jailed Tehseen for five years and three months. He said: "This was a serious offence of robbery, which was targeted against a vulnerable victim."
Judge Walsh added: "The victim was pursued for a protracted period of time to his home address and physical violence was used against him in his home address."
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