Doyle, 37, of North Hill Road, Mount Pleasant, Swansea, who has 85 previous offences on his record including numerous thefts went into the woman’s home while she was waiting for paramedics and rifled through cupboards and drawers looking for things to steal.
On 22 March 2024, the 77-year-old woman had gone into her garden in the Penlan area of Swansea to hang up washing but suffered a fall and could not get back to her feet.
Doyle jumped over the garden wall, the court heard. The woman asked him to alert her neighbour – another woman in her 70s so an ambulance could be called as she was in considerable pain.
While the neighbour was waiting with her stricken friend for the paramedics, the victim’s dog escaped and she asked Doyle to take the pet inside.
He did so, but then the neighbour found him searching through drawers and cupboards for valuable items. It later emerged Doyle had stolen cash, jewellery, and cleaning products from the injured woman.
He had also gone into the neighbour’s flat while she was comforting her injured friend in the garden and stolen various items.
In statements from the two victims, the pensioners told the court of the impact this has had on them. One said she “no longer feels safe in her flat” and wishes to move as soon as possible.
Recorder Greg Bull KC told Doyle that he had a bad record for dishonesty, and that the defendant had taken advantage of the situation he found himself in to burgle the two pensioners’ flats.
Burglary was often rightly regarded as an offence against the person as much as an offence against property because of its impact on victims.
With a one-quarter discount for his guilty pleas, Doyle was sentenced to three years in prison. He will serve up to half that sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
[Lead image: South Wales Police]
