A window cleaner from Ferndale has been jailed for stealing money from an 86 year-old woman who suffers from Dementia.
Mathew Benjamin Lewis, 33, was sentenced to five years at Merthyr Crown Court on Wednesday, 10th April, 2019, after he pleading guilty to two counts of burglary.
He was caught red handed by family members who had installed CCTV in their elderly mother’s house after becoming suspicious of Lewis’ visits.
The victim who is 86 years-old, was a Dementia sufferer who had no concept of money or time.
A year before his arrest, Lewis was told by the family not to visit or contact their elderly relative after they became suspicious of regular visits – he was only supposed to clean the windows once a month and an arrangement was in place for him to collect money from a neighbour, but he was regularly seen at the address.
After they confronted him he agreed never to go to the house and again even if the victim asked him to.
Alarm bells once again rang for the family when they saw the carers visit log which mentioned the window cleaner calling at the address.
The watched back CCTV and caught Lewis in the act, entering the house and stealing money for their mother’s purse.
The contacted police and Lewis was arrested the same day.
He denied the offence before the CCTV was played in front him.
Detective Constable Ann Stevens, said: “The family’s trust was put in Matthew to provide a simple service to a very vulnerable member of the community.
“He abused that trust and simply could not resist his temptation – I believe he befriended with the aim of taking full advantage of her.
“Luckily, the victim’s family and her neighbours were vigilant enough to action and the measures they put in place led to Lewis’ conviction.
“He is now paying for his dishonesty in prison, where he has plenty of time to reflect on his actions which have caused considerable distress to the victim’s family.”
CCTV (below) showing the window cleaner stealing from the pensioner’s bag.
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