Junkie OAP robber is jailed

Apr 20 2007

A VIOLENT drug addict who preyed on elderly and disabled Birmingham women was today behind bars.

Matthew Valentine was so desperate for cash he pushed two of his victims off their mobility scooters, a court heard.

Warwick Crown Court heard how Valentine robbed the women in Chelmsley Wood to support his crack cocaine habit.

Valentine, 24, of Raddlebarn Road, Selly Oak, was jailed for four-and-a-half years after pleading guilty to two charges of robbery and one of theft.

Paul Baty, prosecuting, said his first victim last November was an elderly women who suffered from arthritis, curvature of the spine and knee problems.

She had been to the shops in Arran Way, Chelmsley Wood, on her mobility scooter, and was on her way to some nearby woods to watch the birds.

But Valentine followed her, grabbed hold of the basket on the front of the scooter and started to bounce it up and down while demanding her purse.

When she told him she had no money he began pulling things out of the basket and throwing them on the ground before grabbing her round the neck.

Keeping hold of her jacket by her neck, he grabbed at her pockets, shouting that he had a knife.

After taking his terrified victim's purse from one of the pockets, Valentine ran off shouting: "You should have just given me your purse.''

He next struck later the same month when he grabbed a 74-year-old woman's handbag when she put it down on the floor.

When she tried to stop him she fell over, grazing her hand and knee.

In January this year a 51-year-old disabled woman had her bag over the handlebars of her disabled scooter as she rode it along the path through a park off Auckland Drive, Chelsmley Wood.

Valentine grabbed the bag and hit the woman before running away.