A slap in the face

Monday, 20 February 2012

An MP has backed a campaign by Mature Times calling on judges to protect the elderly after the death of a pensioner following a burglary.

Intruders Liam Cunliffe and Louis Corbett, both 18, broke into the home of terrified Pauline Reddick, 80, while she cowered in an upstairs bedroom. The victim, who had a history of high blood pressure in stressful situations, suffered a stroke later that day and died in hospital.

Cunliffe was given 27 months and Corbett two years in young offenders’ institutions after admitting burglary and theft last June. Manslaughter charges against the pair were dropped - causing Cunliffe to boast on Facebook: “I’m only lookin (sic) at 6 months haa bring it on easy!”

But the family of Mrs Reddick hit out after it emerged the pair were already out of custody on a home detention scheme - just over six months after being sentenced. They called the development a “slap in the face”.

Following the news, the Mature Times has launched a campaign to get judges to pass proportionate sentences that properly protect the elderly. Charlotte Leslie, MP for Bristol North West, where Mrs Reddick lived, threw her weight behind the campaign.

She said: “I back the Matures Times campaign. “In the justice system, it is still the case that it can seem that the rights of criminals are put above those of the victims and their families, and I met with the Victim’s Commissioner because of my concerns. “This is particularly traumatic for our most vulnerable groups, like the elderly. “This is just one area where the elderly still do not get the respect and compassion that society owes.”

Assistant deputy coroner Terence Moore, sitting at Flax Bourton Coroner’s Court, near Bristol, last month recorded a narrative verdict into Mrs Reddick’s death.

Likely connection

He said there was no “scientific link” between the burglary and the death, but “on the balance of probability”, the death and burglary were likely to have been connected. Her son Andrew, 52, said: “The coroner said, on the balance of probabilities, mum died of a stroke but the burglary was a contributory factor.

“That means that Cunliffe and Corbett were responsible, in our opinion, for our mother’s death. “We’ve been informed that both of them are out of custody already on home detention and we are appalled by this.

“During the trial, the judge said Cunliffe’s boasting on Facebook was a dagger through the heart of the family. “We feel that the criminal justice system has done that to us by allowing these two people to be out so soon. “We think this aspect of burglary law is wrong and should definitely be looked at. It’s no deterrent at all against people committing offences like this.

“It’s a complete slap in the face.” Mrs Reddick, from Westbury-on-Trym in Bristol died the same day Liam Cunliffe and Louis Corbett, broke into her home.

Called out

The pair snuck into her house at 3.30am on August 17, 2010. When Mrs Reddick was disturbed she thought her daughter was downstairs and called out. The intruders fled and there was no evidence of a physical assault - but hours later Mrs Reddick suffered a brain bleed and died at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol. Cunliffe, of Weston-super-Mare, Somerset and Corbett, formerly of Brentry, Bristol were sent to a young offenders’ institution for 27 months and two years respectively last June.

Mrs Reddick’s daughter Mary Hilton, 55, said: “We are quite disturbed that they are both out already. As far as the Criminal Justice System is concerned, we feel let down.

Closure

“We were pleased with the outcome because the narrative verdict does say that our mother’s death was linked to the burglary, which is what we have always believed. “That gives us a certain amount of closure.”