A serial burglar who posed as a carer, a social worker and delivery driver to target elderly people in their homes has been jailed for over four years.
Coraleena Hunter, 44, a prolific thief with a violent streak, targeted four elderly victims who lived in the same sheltered accommodation in York.
The “despicable” thief posed as officials as she tried to inveigle herself into their flats at an elderly people’s complex in Skeldergate, York Crown Court heard.
Prosecutor Rob Galley said three of those victims were targeted within a 30-minute period on 30 October when Hunter tried to fool them into believing she was a legitimate visitor to the “entry-controlled” premises.
Two days earlier, an elderly man with serious mental-health conditions, who lived at the same sheltered accommodation, was waiting for a parcel delivery when Hunter turned up at his door alongside a genuine delivery driver who was oblivious to the ruse.
When the 65-year-old victim answered the door at about 12pm, he saw the delivery driver with his package – and Hunter standing next to him.
“The female was asking to use his toilet,” said Mr Galley.
“He thought she was with the driver. She went to the back room and was there for about five minutes.”
Realising Hunter was an impostor, he checked his bathroom and found that his £60 bottle of Hugo Boss aftershave had been stolen.
Hunter was arrested two days later, while still in the reception area, on the day of the other burglaries after the victims reported her to police.
Smelling of beer
She first targeted an 80-year-old woman who heard her front door being opened. When the victim went out to her hallway and asked Hunter her if she could help her, the intruder said she was a social worker but that she had gone to the wrong flat.
The victim told her: “You are no social worker any more than I am.”
“The victim said Hunter was smelling of beer, holding onto a drinks can,” said Mr Galley. Hunter promptly ran downstairs empty-handed as the victim called police.
However, about 15 minutes later, she targeted a 71-year-old woman who heard her front door creaking open. When she went out into the hallway, she saw Hunter standing there.
This time Hunter claimed she was a carer but the victim thought it “strange” that she had walked straight into her flat.
Hunter asked the woman if she had any bank notes to exchange for coins because she needed money for B&B accommodation. The victim said she didn’t have any and sent her on her way.
Shortly afterwards, a 66-year-old man was asleep in his flat when he awoke to find Hunter standing next to him. When the startled victim asked her who she was, Hunter replied: “I’m your carer.”
The victim, noting the can of alcohol in Hunter’s hand, replied: “I don’t think so.”
He spent the next ten minutes pleading with her to leave. She eventually did, whereupon the victim rang police.
‘Ain’t bothered’ by jail
When officers arrived, Hunter was still inside the reception of the flats complex. She told officers: “I ain’t bothered if I go back to jail.”
She began swearing at them, at which point a member of the public started to unlock the main door from the outside and, as it was opened, Hunter made a bid to escape by pushing one of the officers away from the doorway.
As the officer tried to drag her back inside, Hunter pushed her in the chest “with force”. The officer, though “unsteady on her feet”, managed to regain her balance and helped the other officers place the cuffs on Hunter as the drunken thief hurled more abuse at them.
Hunter, a chronic drug addict of no fixed address, admitted four counts of burglary and assaulting an emergency worker. She appeared for sentence via video link today after being remanded in custody.
The court heard impact statements from the four elderly victims, one of whom said she now felt imprisoned in her own home.
The second female victim said that Hunter had entered her property “like a tornado”.
The victim whose aftershave was stolen from his bathroom cabinet described Hunter’s predatory behaviour as “despicable”, particularly as he had serious mental-health issues including paranoid schizophrenia.
The incident had exacerbated his condition and he now suffered from “great anxiety”.
Hunter – who had somehow managed to sneak into the secure apartment complex – already had more than 100 offences on her 30-year criminal record including burglaries, robbery, blackmail, resisting police officers and theft from a dwelling, primarily in the homes of elderly and vulnerable people.
Defence barrister Emily Hassell said Hunter had an “entrenched” addiction to heroin, crack cocaine and alcohol.
Judge Simon Hickey described Hunter’s offences as “despicable” and told her: “These are clearly targeted offences (against) very vulnerable people.”
The judge noted that the victims, who were all “extremely shaken”, no longer felt safe in their homes. Hunter was jailed for four-and-a-half-years for the burglaries and given a further two-week jail sentence, to run consecutively, for assaulting the police officer.