A MUGGER who left his 86-year-old victim so traumatised she is unlikely to ever recover has been jailed for two years.

The elderly woman was sitting in her car with the door closed when serial thief Matthew John Dodson pulled it open, grabbed her handbag containing her savings and pension, and ran off, York Crown Court heard.

An anonymous Good Samaritan who saw the crime was so appalled, he immediately gave the victim £200 of his own money.

Simon Ostler, prosecuting, said the theft of the bag with £2,250 inside it left the 86-year-old so terrified, she told police: “I will never be the same person I was before this happened to me.”

She had been planning to buy birthday presents.

Recorder Simon Phillips QC told Dodson: “She described what happened to her at your hands as knocking out the bottom of her heart. She feels this incident and the repercussions are going to kill her off.”

Mr Ostler said the incident left the elderly woman “sick to her stomach”, she had had to go on medication to help her sleep and now feared to leave her house.

Dodson, 37, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to theft and was jailed for two years.

Det Sgt Mark Jackson said: “Matthew Dodson is no stranger to the courts in York. He is rightly starting a period of imprisonment. His actions that day were those of a coward. He had no regard or thought towards his victim. He has left the victim stressed and fearful of what he has done. He has not once shown any remorse, explanation or apology.”

Mr Ostler said the woman’s 70-year-old husband drove her to the York Road post office in Acomb to collect her pension and parked about ten metres away at 9.25am on February 18. He then helped her walk to the post office and back, helped her into the front passenger seat and closed the door.

As he walked round to the driver’s door, Dodson struck, grabbed the bag and ran off. He was caught on CCTV and arrested two days later, but the money has not been recovered.

He has a long list of previous convictions and has served several prison terms for burglary.

His solicitor advocate, Kevin Blount, said it was an opportunistic theft – but the judge disagreed, saying Dodson had watched the elderly woman go to and from the post office and knew she was a very vulnerable victim.

Mr Blount said Dodson had not used force and had been short of money because his step-daughter had stolen his bank card and used it on his account. The court heard Dodson felt more settled in prison. The spontaneous act of kindness by the Good Samaritan earned him the praise and thanks of both the elderly woman’s family and the police.


York Press: The Press - Comment

Despicable crime

WHEN an 86-year-old woman was mugged in the centre of Acomb earlier this year, it was the actions of an anonymous Good Samaritan who came to her aid which received most attention.

So appalled was he by what had happened to the pensioner he withdrew £200 from a cashpoint and insisted she take it.

That was a story to warm the heart.

But it didn’t detract from the despicable nature of the crime that had been committed in the first place.

The elderly woman, who hasn’t been named, had been to draw out her pension and had been sitting in the car when mugger Matthew John Dodson snatched her handbag, containing £2,250.

Even though Dodson was caught on CCTV and arrested two days later, the money has never been recovered.

Today, Dodson is beginning two years behind bars after admitting theft.

That scarcely seems enough given the despicable nature of what he did.

York Crown Court heard that, despite the subsequent generosity of the Good Samaritan, Dodson’s elderly victim was so traumatised she was unlikely ever to recover.

“She described what happened… as knocking out the bottom of her heart,” Recorder Simon Phillips QC told Dodson.

Dodson will be out of jail in much less than two years. But his elderly victim is now on medication to help her sleep and is scared to leave the house. She will live with what he did to her for the rest of her life.

The law has acted swiftly in this case. A nasty criminal has been caught and jailed. But the uneasy feeling remains that justice still has not really been done.