COLLINS: NINE YEARS FOR BURGLAR WHO SCALDED PENSIONER WITH BOILING WATER
Police today (Weds) released shocking photographs of the agonising scalds and cuts suffered by a 78 year old woman attacked by a kettle-wielding career burglar.
Brenda Collins, 42, admitted she was a ‘menace to society’ after targeting at least 13 elderly women, including partially-blind Beryl McCubbine, living in sheltered accommodation.
Collins pretended she was a care worker to con her way into the homes of vulnerable victims – some aged in their 90s.
She preyed on Mrs McCubbine while out on weekend release from open prison in August this year from a previous six year jail sentence.
Former carer Collins had burgled 12 elderly victims across five London boroughs in 2006 and 2007, Blackfriars Crown Court heard.
She was let out of East Sutton Park jail near Maidstone, Kent, to visit her daughter on August 23 this year when she made her way to Mrs McCubbine’s home in Sage Way, Grays Inn.
The victim told how she had left the door ajar as it was a warm day, when Collins wandered past the warden into the flat.
She claimed to be her new carer who had come to help with her shopping.
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 Collins hit her on the head with the just-boiled kettle, knocking her to the ground and spilling scalding water down her neck.
She straddled her frail victim and battered her about the head with the kettle as she screamed for her to stop.
Collins then fled leaving the terrified woman’s neck blistered with burns and her head bleeding.
In an impact statement Mrs McCubbine said she believed the intruder was going to kill her as she lay defenceless on the floor.
She said: ‘I felt that this woman was going to kill me.
‘I have flashbacks.
‘I keep on seeing her face which makes me start to panic and have panic attacks.
‘When I’m by myself I try not to make a noise because I don’t want anyone to know I’m at home.
‘The injuries were extremely painful.
‘I have had the stitches removed from my head but it is very sore.
‘It is difficult and painful to wash my hair so I have had to forego washing it.
‘This makes me feel unclean and therefore miserable as my personal hygiene is important to me.
‘The burns and blisters I had as a result of the hot water being poured on me, this made wearing clothes uncomfortable.
‘It is worse at night when the blisters bleed as a result I don’t get very much sleep.’
Mark James-Dawson, prosecuting, said: ‘She preys on vulnerable elderly women in their homes by pretending to be their carer.’
After first denying the attack on Mrs McCubbine in interview Collins admitted to detectives during a moment of contemplation: ‘I’m a menace to society.’
Collins, formerly of Albion Road, Stoke Newington, 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.’
Outside court the officer in the case PC Steven Colclough, said: ‘This was a particularly cruel burglary and violent assault on an elderly lady in her own home.
‘The victim has shown great courage during and following the attack.
‘The sentence given to Brenda Collins, demonstrates the seriousness of the offence and the risk she posed to vulnerable and elderly people in Camden. I’m delighted that a just punishment has been delivered.’
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