"Bogus council worker" tricked his way into home of Hipperholme pensioner

A "distraction" burglar, who has targeted elderly victims in the past, has been jailed again after stealing £500 from the home of a Hipperholme pensioner.
David CarginDavid Cargin
David Cargin

David Cargin, 47, snatched an envelope containing the cash after telling his 85-year-old victim that he was a council worker who was in the area looking for a lad who had been stealing from people's homes.

Bradford Crown Court heard that the unsuspecting victim gave Cargin a cup of tea, but after the defendant asked him for a pen he followed the pensioner into the bedroom of his flat and stole the envelope.

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Prosecutor Nicholas Askins said the money had been put aside to pay bills and in a victim impact statement the pensioner described being angry and upset about the crime.

"He said he was cross with himself for being taken in and could not get it out of his mind," said Mr Askins.

But Cargin, of Lyme Cross Road, Huyton, Liverpool, had slipped up again by having a cuppa with his victim and his DNA was later recovered by police.

Back in 2008 Cargin was jailed at Liverpool Crown Court after he left his DNA on a teacup during a spate of similar offending in the north west of England.

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Cargin, who appeared before Judge Neil Davey QC via a video link to HMP Leeds, pleaded guilty this morning to burgling the pensioner's flat in June and he was jailed for 29 months.

Barrister Joe Boyd, for Cargin, said the defendant had been visiting a friend in the area when he spotted the money on the table.

He conceded that his client had waited for the complainant to return home and had gone through with the offence knowing that the complainant was elderly.

Mr Boyd claimed that Cargin was "at his wits end" because he needed the money to pay off his son's debt.

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Judge Davey said Cargin had taken advantage of an old man after pretending that he was from the council and was there to help him.

"Not surprisingly this has had an effect on him emotionally. It is something that stays with him to this day," said the judge.

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