Leader: Get tough on muggers in Huddersfield town centre

Sep 25 2010 by simon halewood, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

HOW brave of 95-year-old Kathleen Bates to speak out about the impact purse theft has had on her.

She is one of almost 60 people targeted by gangs of so-called purse-dippers in Huddersfield town centre in under two months.

Many of them are elderly or vulnerable.

Also in today’s paper, a thief left an 86-year-old woman on the ground injured after mugging her in Huddersfield town centre.

Heroin addict Charlotte Boothroyd fled with her victim’s purse after wrenching it from her grasp and causing her to fall over.

The judge said Boothroyd had to go to prison as a deterrent to others and sent her down for a year, but she will be out again in around six months.

The big question is are the deterrents really there for those who target the old and frail? Perhaps that should now be more widely recognised in law as a seriously aggravating factor.

The message needs to be forcefully put across to the thieves. Leave our elderly alone or else expect a lengthy jail term.

Victims of crime respond in different ways. Some can shrug it off and get on with their lives but for others it can have a devastating impact.

Often these are our elderly citizens and they should have the full weight of the law on their side every time.

Even though there has been a spate of purse thefts, don’t let the fear of crime take over your lives.

In the vast majority of incidents a purse is taken and the victim remains unaware until they try to pay in a shop. It is rare for an elderly person to end up hurt.

So when they do, that’s when the courts should hand out tough justice.