A CON WOMAN who posed as a police officer has been jailed after carrying out distraction burglaries in Solihull.
Derrol Flynn formerly of Kitts Green Road, Kitts Green, made a fake police ID badge out of a SIM card holder and a shoe lace and used it as a ruse to deceive women aged between 60 and 98 into believing she was an investigator.
Last June the 45-year-old talked her way inside two homes in Olton’s Dorsington Road.
At one address she punched a 72-year-old woman and made a grab for her handbag and at the other shoved her way past the disabled resident and searched her home before leaving empty-handed.
On the same day she also tried tricking her way inside a house in Hillmount Close in Hall Green, but again fled after the resident became suspicious and refused her entry.
However, she succeeded the following day in gaining access to the Bournville home of a 98-year-old woman − a carer for her 105-year-old husband − after persuading the elderly couple she was a police officer.
Heartless Flynn swiped five envelopes containing cash for each of their grandchildren − spending money for a planned trip to Disneyland Paris − before making off with a total of £6,000.
The houses targeted were in Hollywood, Kings Norton, Quinton, Hall Green, Shard End, Olton, Bourneville and West Heath.
West Midlands Police officers found her on June 29 at a friend’s house Kitts Green Road. A Peugeot 207 used to commit some offences was parked outside the address − and when searched in police custody a key to the car was found hidden inside her bra.
She admitted the offences and at Birmingham Crown Court on May 22 was jailed for nine years.
Investigating officer, PC Alan Reeves, said: “These are heinous crimes: Flynn deliberately targeted elderly people and took advantage of their vulnerability and trusting nature. The oldest victim, who is aged 98, lost several thousand pounds.
“The fake ID card she made from a SIM card holder and shoelace was almost laughably crude − but it goes to illustrate how vulnerable Flynn’s victims were, people who were easily confused and often with poor eyesight.
“She has been convicted several times for similar offences and clearly has no regard for the wellbeing of elderly people in our community; to her they are potential easy targets to con money out of.
“These offences caused huge distress and anxiety − in addition to any financial loss − to the victims and the callous nature of her offending is despicable.
“I’m pleased the judge has handed down a lengthy custodial sentence and residents can feel safer in their homes with Flynn behind bars.”
Giovanni D’Alessandro, Senior Crown Prosecutor with West Midlands Crown Prosecution Service, said: “We hope this conviction encourages other older people to have belief that we will treat the crimes perpetrated against them with the utmost seriousness and to have the confidence to report them. The Police and CPS understand the serious nature of these crimes and the consequences that they can have on the victim’s life.
“Targeting someone because they are old or vulnerable makes a crime even more serious, so it is critical that together we bring these people to justice – whether they be strangers, as in this case or indeed carers or family members.”
