A burglar conned his way into an elderly couple’s home and stole thousands of pounds of jewellery by telling them he was a police officer investigating a previous break in.
Karl McDonough targeted Jean and Francis Hampson at their home in Everton early last year, stealing a “lifetime’s worth of jewellery” from Mrs Hampson. McDonough cruelly suggested he was there to take photos to help catch the previous burglar yet he then rifled through a cupboard and found her jewellery box.
When the couple began to suspect him him he pushed past them and ran off into the street with many of her valuables.
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Nardeen Nehmat, prosecuting, said Mr Hampson, then 85, and Mrs Hampson, then 84, had been the victims of a burglary in 2020. McDonough knocked on the front door of their home on the afternoon of January 27, 2021, and told them he was a police officer investigating that break in. He asked Mrs Hampson “don’t you remember me?” and appeared to know some of the details of the previous burglary.
The court did not hear a reason why McDonough appeared to know these details. Claiming he was there to take photos, the 43 year old then began to go around the house. The couple became suspicious and Mr Hampson followed McDonough around.
Ms Nehmat said: “The defendant tried to usher Mr Hampson into the living room so he could 'take photos’.” By this point the couple believed McDonough was stealing. He was holding his coat close to him and Mrs Hampson asked him to shake the coat by the collar. He replied “I can’t be doing with this” and pushed past them and ran down the road.
Mr Hampson followed him and found Mrs Hampson’s jewellery box, which had been in a cupboard, open in the street. Apart from some pieces of cheaper costume jewellery, everything was gone. The stolen jewellery was never found.
Mr Hampson has since sadly died after a long term illness. In a statement to the court, Mrs Hampson said that while the jewellery stolen had significant monetary value, estimated at around £2,000, it was the emotional effect of losing every piece given to her by her late husband and close family members that was particularly devastating.
Mrs Hampson said: “It was precious to me, of sentimental value. Every piece of jewellery my lovely husband gave me was lost as a result of that burglary.” She said she had initially felt frightened in her own home and that while that feeling had lessened she still felt waves of anger thinking about what was taken from her. Mrs Hampson said: “I hope this man is punished in a way that makes him never want to burgle again.”
McDonough was arrested by police shortly after the burglary and denied any role. However, a few weeks before his trial was due to start he changed his plea to guilty. Charles Lander, defending, asked the judge to take into account McDonough’s multiple medical conditions when sentencing him. He has suffered from cancer, has had a stroke and recently had sepsis.
Mr Lander said McDonough, who has a string of previous convictions including for arson, turned to crime after his life fell apart when his first child died during birth. Addressing McDonough’s offending, Mr Lander said: “The best thing that can be said about this defendant is that he ultimately pleaded guilty and prevented Mrs Hampson from having to come to court. It is regrettable that he didn’t plead guilty at any earlier point but he did then have the good sense to plead guilty.”
Judge Robert Trevor-Jones said McDonough had subjected the Hampsons to “a mean and despicable offence”, with the loss of the jewellery a huge emotional blow for Mrs Hampson. He said: “The crushing element of all this is, as she described, that this was a lifetime’s worth of jewellery - gifts from friends and family and, importantly as she said, every piece of jewellery given to her by her husband.”
McDonough, formerly of the YMCA on Great Crosshall Street, was jailed for three years and nine months. A restraining order will also prevent him from contacting Mrs Hampson.
