A burglar who callously ransacked a 90-year-old’s home – stripping her husband’s campaign medals and other historic memorabilia – had his sentence slashed by top judges on Tuesday.
Nigel Victor Duncan (51), of Albert Street, Holbeach, was jailed for seven years at Peterborough Crown Court in April after he admitted burgling Gwendoline Hillman.
Mrs Hillman, also of Holbeach, was in hospital when Duncan and an accomplice raided her home, London’s Appeal Court was told.
Mr Justice Langstaff, sitting with Lord Justice Toulson and Judge Anthony Morris QC, said it was “about as bad a case of ransacking as the courts have seen”.
“It is plain that the property had been trashed,” he said.
Duncan stole jewellery and electrical equipment, but the most damaging loss to Mrs Hillman was items of high sentimental value, included her husband’s Burma Star medal from wartime service, which he vowed he would be buried with.
The raiders also took an autograph book containing the signatures of luminaries such as playwright, George Bernard Shaw and Edward VIII.
Mr Justice Langstaff said Mrs Hillman’s life had been “blighted”, and she has taken up residence in the same nursing home as her husband.
However, he noted that the crown court judge had sentenced Duncan on the basis that he was a career criminal, imposing a “professional sentence for a professional criminal”.
But Duncan’s last house burglary was nearly 25 years ago, said Mr Justice Langstaff.
He said: “We consider the sentence was manifestly excessive and we substitute five and a half years.”