Mask-wearing robber targeted his own grandmother

A Halloween-mask wearing thug who tried to rob his own 79-year-old grandmother while brandishing a knife to get money for a holiday has been jailed.

Debt-ridden Oliver Haden, aged 27, attempted to disguise his voice when he burst into grandmother Sheila Croft's Walsall home, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

He cut her telephone wire to stop her ringing for help having called earlier to say he was coming as she was "particular" about only unlocking her door if she was expecting someone.

He had told her he had the £50 he owed her, so she opened her back door and sat in her kitchen waiting for him on July 30.

When Haden, of Bloomfield Drive, Willenhall, appeared wearing the orange mask, Ms Croft suspected her grandson was playing a prank on her. Mr Warren Stanier, prosecuting, said: "The complainant replied that she didn't have any money. Haden replied: 'I know you have got money and I know you have got a safe.'

"She thought he was messing around and she tried to grab the mask."

He batted her away and demanded more money but fled after noticing he had cut her arm.

She tried to call a neighbour, but found the telephone wire had been cut, and went next door to raise the alarm.

Mr Stanier said Haden's grandmother had already lent him £2,000 on one occasion and £50 on another to pay for food. Neither of these has been paid back.

Mr Stephen Blower, defending, said Haden was heavily in debt, and was shielding his wife from the extent of the problems because she was pregnant and had previously had a miscarriage.

He added that he had agreed to take his wife to Scotland where they were married, and when he told her he could not afford it she "did not react well" and in a moment of madness he concocted the plan to rob his grandmother.

The court heard that Ms Croft had written to the court saying she was not traumatised by the events, despite feeling frightened at the time.

She felt it was her fault for not spotting the signs that Haden had desperate money worries.

Judge Martin Walsh refuted any suggestion that any blame should fall on her.

He said: "She became frightened and scared and you can only imagine the fear that she must have experienced seeing a masked man with a knife in her house.

"I feel troubled that she says 'I feel it's my fault'. It is not her fault."

He sentenced Haden to 32 months in jail for attempted robbery and eight months for possessing a bladed article in a public place, both of which he admitted, to run concurrently.