Bogus window cleaner targeted kindly old ladies

WOMAN WHO TEAMED UP WITH PARTNER TO STEAL FROM HOMES IS JAILED

- By DAVID HUNTLEY

A BURGLAR who targeted elderly Blyth residents by claiming to be a window-cleaner alongside her partner, has been jailed.

Margaret Brown, 40, and her partner Matthew Thain, 34, targeted kind-natured elderly women in order to gain access to their homes.

The pair would turn up to an address and ask to clean the home owner's windows or cut their grass. An excuse would then be made to get inside the property.

Brown, of Allensgreen, Cramlington, appeared at Newcastle Crown Court via link from HMP Low Newton to be sentenced for two counts of burglary.

She had pleaded guilty to the offences on the basis that she was present during the burglaries, but did not take any property.

The court heard that on June 10 this year, Brown and Thain were in Blyth and knocking on the doors of elderly homeowners, claiming to be window cleaners.