Eva Tulceanu, 38, was jailed for two years after she and a still at large male accomplice stole from shoppers in their 80s and 90s
Elderly shoppers were left traumatised after a woman targeted them for a string of “mean and despicable” thefts.
Eva Tulceanu, 38, was jailed for two years after she and a male accomplice stole from pensioners in their eighties and nineties.
She went to prison still protecting the identity of her partner in crime, who is still at large.
Judge Peter Bowers told her: “These were particularly mean and despicable offences. Over a period of five weeks, you targeted four elderly, trusting and vulnerable pensioners.
“It is quite apparent that each of these has been traumatised and left with significant emotional and psychological harm.
“There was clearly an element of sophistication and professionalism involved in the way you and the male with you relieved these pensioners of their money.
“Two of them had only just collected their pensions when they were subject to your attentions and lost most, if not all, of what they’d obtained.”
The pensioners had their money stolen when they were bumped into, pushed, shoved or distracted, Teesside Crown Court heard.
A 95-year-old woman had planned to put her money towards a mass in memory of her late husband on their 60th wedding anniversary.
She dropped her purse in the Savers shop on Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough. A man kicked the purse to Tulceanu, she picked it up and the thieves left the shop, said prosecutor Harry Hadfield.
An 81-year-old man was shopping with his pension money in the nearby Co-op when his wallet containing £300 was pinched from his pocket.
An 82-year-old woman even helped Tulceanu at a till in Heron Frozen Foods in Guisborough before she had £170 stolen from her bag. She had just withdrawn her pension from the post office.
Tulceanu and her associate followed an elderly woman into a lift at Middlesbrough post office and stole her purse containing £600 from a trolley.
Tulceanu, of Wicklow Street, Ayresome, Middlesbrough, also stole a baby blanket, meat, chocolate and crisps in two Middlesbrough shops.
She admitted six counts of theft - her first crimes - all from January and February this year.
Duncan McReddie, defending, said Tulceanu regarded herself as a hard-working and trustworthy person.
She had been in the UK since 2010 but had never offended before the thefts.
He said she acted out of desperation after she lost her job as a cleaner and was unable to provide for her two children and pay her rent.
He said she was manipulated and persuaded to steal by the man she was not willing to name. He asked the judge to pass a suspended sentence because of her children, who were being looked after by her sister while she was in custody.
Judge Bowers said he was not prepared to spare her prison despite her plight.
He told Tulceanu: “However desperate you were cannot justify preying upon people who are old and vulnerable.
“The sentence has to contain an element which will deter others from preying upon the old and vulnerable.” He passed the two-year sentence, saying he felt “somewhat constrained” by sentencing guidelines.
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