COLLINS: ‘MENACE TO SOCIETY’ BURGLAR CAGED
A career burglar who declared herself a ‘menace to society’ after targeting at least 13 elderly women in their homes has been jailed for nine years.
Brenda Collins, 41, carried out her latest raid while on weekend release from open prison in August this year.
Collins crept into Beryl McCubbine’s home in north London and threw a kettle full of boiling water over her when the brave 78-year-old challenged her.
She knocked Mrs McCubbine to the ground and battered her repeatedly about the head with the kettle as she screamed for her to stop.
Collins then fled leaving her terrified victim’s neck blistered with burns.
At the time of the attack Collins was on weekend leave from a six year jail term for burgling six victims across five London boroughs in 2007, Blackfriars Crown Court heard.
She had been allowed out of Sutton Park jail near Maidstone, Kent, to visit her daughter on August 23 this year when she made her way to Mrs Collins’ home in Sage Way, Grays Inn.
Collins had been jailed for 66 months in 2006 for six other burglaries.
Mark James-Dawson, prosecuting, said: ‘She preys on vulnerable elderly women in their homes by pretending to be their carer.’
Collins wandered in to Mrs McCubbine’s sheltered housing after finding the door ajar.
She told the 78-year-old she was her carer but the victim did not believe her as her daughter had that role and was not due for two days.
As Collins got up to leave she grabbed the pensioner’s bag containing her purse and just a few pounds.
The victim went to grab it back and complained: ‘That’s my purse, give it back.’
But the burglar mounted the shocking assault and fled with the bag, only to be caught by a group of young men gathered outside.
The victim was treated for agonising burns and cuts to her head and neck.
In a victim impact statement she said she was afraid to be home alone in case it happened again.
After first denying the attack on Mrs McCubbine in interview she admitted detectives during a moment of contemplation: ‘I’m a menace to society.’
She eventually admitted one count of burglary and one of causing grievous bodily harm.
Jailing her for nine years Judge Daniel Worsley said: ‘This is a deeply shocking attack on a vulnerable victim and you have a history of this.’
