A CONVICTED heroin dealer could be jailed indefinitely after a jury convicted him of mugging his 87-year-old neighbour and stealing her wedding ring from her finger.

Nellie Holliday will not see justice done because she has died since Steven George Kerr broke into her Barlby home in the early hours of March 9 last year and took the ring off her finger and a necklace from round her neck. She never got her jewellery back.

Kerr concealed his face and wore dark clothing, York Crown Court heard, as he terrified the frail old woman for whom he once did gardening work.

After the jury returned their majority verdict of guilty to robbery, they heard Kerr was awaiting sentence for burglary and drugs offences.

They were not told he was jailed in 2002 for five years for cocaine and heroin dealing in Clifton, or that he had at least two previous convictions for carrying a knife. He was unarmed when he robbed Mrs Holliday.

The Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst, warned him he would receive a “significant” jail term. “It will come as no surprise to you any prison sentence you receive in respect of this robbery will reflect the very serious nature of the offence and the impact upon the victim.”

He adjourned the case so Kerr could be sentenced along with his co-accused on the drugs charges, Errol Shaun Thackray, 45, of D’Arcy Road, Selby, who admitted possessing heroin with intent to supply. In 2002 Thackray was jailed for nine years for heroin and cocaine dealing offences.

Defence barrister Sabrina Hartshorn said she would try to persuade the judge not to pass an indefinite sentence on Kerr when he returned to court. The maximum sentence for robbery is life imprisonment, and it can also be punished by indefinite imprisonment for public protection.

Kerr, 39, of Highfield Crescent, Barlby, Selby, showed no emotion as the jury returned its guilty verdict after more than four hours in retirement. He had denied the charge.

The jury heard how, within hours of the robbery, a police dog tracked Kerr to his home. He had left his shoemark in Mrs Holliday’s flower bed and a forensic scientist found glass fragments on his trainers from the window he smashed to get into the house.

He is awaiting sentence after previously admitting burgling a house in River Street, Selby, allowing the use of his home for the supply of heroin, and being involved in the supply of Subutex, a heroin substitute.