A woman robbed an 88-year-old pensioner at a Tesco cash machine in Newport. Mandy Hammond had been begging outside the Tesco Express at Caerleon Road when she targeted the 88-year-old victim who had been enjoying a day out with her granddaughter.
The grandmother was wrestled to the ground by Hammond before Hammond snatched the cash she had just withdrawn. Sending the mother-of-seven to prison, a judge at Cardiff Crown Court told her she had not just stolen the pensioner’s money but also her self-confidence.
The court heard the incident took place outside the Tesco store on May 10 this year. Hammond had been begging outside the shop when her victim – a woman who was enjoying a day out with her granddaughter – stopped to use the cash machine.
The 54-year-old defendant approached the pensioner and tried to snatch the newly withdrawn money, but the pensioner refused to let it go. The court heard Hammond then “used her bodyweight” to push the pensioner to the floor before taking the money and making off.
The court heard the victim sustained injuries to her hands and suffered cuts and grazes. In a statement read to the court the victim described the state of shock she was in after the robbery, how she had lost her confidence in going out, and how her hand injuries meant she was no longer able to teach painting.
Hammond, of Hoskins Street, Newport, had previously pleaded guilty to robbery when she appeared in the dock for sentencing. She has four previous convictions for 11 offences, and at the time of the robbery was subject to a suspended sentence for conveying a prohibited item into prison.
Darren Bishop, for Hammond, said it was accepted his client’s behaviour had had been “deplorable”, and he outlined the defendant’s mental health difficulties including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Judge Lucy Crowther told the defendant that she had offended against someone old enough to be her mother. She said the robbery has had a “very serious effect” on the victim, adding: “You took from her not only her money, but her self-confidence being out in public”.
The judge said she had read psychiatric and pre-sentence reports on the defendant and had read about the mother-of-seven’s history of poly-substance misuse. She noted Hammond showed “a remarkable lack of concern” for what she did and for the impact it has had.
With a one-third discount for her guilty plea Hammond was sentenced to 30 months in prison. The judge activated three months of the previously imposed suspended sentence to run consecutively, making an overall sentence of 33 months.
The defendant will serve up to half the sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
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