Man Jailed For Stealing Pensioner’s Handbag

A Market Harborough man who stole an 80-year-old woman’s handbag while she was waiting for a bus has been jailed for over a year.

CCTV footage showed Tommy Rooney preyed on the pensioner last month, following her around Peterborough City Centre for 40 minutes after she had withdrawn cash from an ATM.

Tommy Rooney

After he got into a car he failed to stop for Police, nearly colliding with a panda car head-on but despite stopping to change his clothes, he was arrested shortly afterwards.

Rooney, 26, of Greenacres, Leicester Road, has been jailed for 15 months and banned from driving for 19 months after admitting theft, dangerous driving and driving with no insurance at Peterborough Crown Court.

Investigating officer, PC Lyndsey Bradshaw, of Cambridgeshire Police, said: “Rooney showed no regard for the law in his actions that day, stealing from an elderly member of our community and trying to evade police.

“I am pleased we were able to return the victim’s belongings to her and hopefully this sentence shows that justice has been served.”