A man has thanked police for looking after his 80-year-old sister after a thief barged into her house and stole her TV.
Julie Hayworth, 28, pleaded guilty earlier this week at Aberdeen Sheriff Court to theft and breaching a curfew over the incident at the city’s Ash-Hill Place on Sunday.
And Andy Davidson, 65, has now spoken out about the impact the terrifying incident had on his sister, whose name he asked to be kept private.
He said: “She was terrified. She didn’t know what to do.
“This woman just ripped the 46-inch TV from the wall and picked it up. She had my sister’s money box in her pocket. She took the remote as well.
“My sister said ‘I was frozen, I couldn’t do anything’.
“The effect it’s had on her will be there for a long time, until the day she dies. She was in the house about 20 minutes, this woman. She jumped on her bed and opened all her drawers.
“My sister only opened the door as she does every morning to get some air.”
And to add insult to injury, the horrifying theft happened the day before the pensioner’s 80th birthday.
Andy said: “She’ll remember this birthday more than any of the others.
“We tried to make the day the best we could for her.”
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Andy described the woman responsible as “pond life”, but said the police officers who came to his sister’s aid were “wonderful” and even made her a cup of tea and set up her other telly for her.
He said: “The police were excellent. They came so quickly, she said.
“She said one or two officers had stayed with her and some others had gone up to the woman’s flat but couldn’t gain entry.
“She has a small TV in her bedroom and they asked would she rather have it in the living room.
“They set it up for her in the lounge and they made her a cup of tea.”
After executing a search warrant the next day the officers recovered the pensioner’s TV.
Andy said: “They brought two TVs down to her and said ‘which one is yours?’.
“They were going to fix that up for her too but then they got called away so they couldn’t.
“They were wonderful. They made a bad situation better.
“They were sympathetic.
“My sister speaks very highly of them. I do too for the help they gave her.”
Hayworth, of Ash-hill Place, Aberdeen, has been remanded in custody and is due to be sentenced later this month.
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