Cowardly thug brutally robbed his own sobbing GRANDMA in terrifying raid
Sicko knocked his grandmother to the ground and grabbed her throat while making demands for her jewellery
A THUG attacked and robbed his own grandmother in a terrifying masked raid after forcing entry to her home.
Scott MacCrae, 20, and his accomplice Ranjit Singh, knocked 77-year-old Pauline Scott to the ground and grabbed her throat while making demands for her jewellery.
Sick MacCrae told the sobbing pensioner she would be killed if she screamed.
He then made off with his gran’s treasured heirlooms and sold them to pay a debt.
Bradford Crown Court heard the pair were wearing masks when they knocked on the Mrs Scott’s door in Cottingley, near Bradford, West Yorks.
When she answered, the men forced their way in and pushed her to the floor, Prosecutor Austin Newman told the court.
He added: “While she was on the ground, one of the males grabbed her round the throat and made demands for her jewellery.
“She attempted to struggle and scream, but one of the males then put his hand over her mouth and told her she would be killed if she continued to scream. She was terrified and stopped struggling.”
She was forced to get jewellery from her bedroom and was asked if there was anything else in the bungalow.
The victim was forced to go up a set of steps into the converted loft despite telling the intruders there was nothing up there.
During the attack Mrs Scott saw the second male “rifling” through her jewellery boxes in the kitchen.
The men told her they were going to lock the door and post the keys back through the letterbox, but as they left she was told: “If you follow us we’ll come back and kill you.”
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Mrs Scott searched for her mobile phone to raise the alarm, but it had been taken during the robbery so she tried banging on one her walls to attract attention.
Eventually, she found a key which meant she could alert a neighbour.
When he was arrested a few days later, Singh initially denied any responsibility, but in a third interview he accepted being involved.
MacCrae only admitted his guilt on the day of his trial.
Judge Colin Burn said his late plea to the robbery meant he was not entitled to as much discount on his sentence as Singh, who pleaded guilty in February.
During MacCrae’s police interviews, he claimed he was being pursued over a debt and that on the day of the robbery he had been threatened with a knife.
He also claimed he had been forced to drink alcohol and take sleeping tablets.
MacCrae’s solicitor Andrew Walker described the offence as “outrageous” but said it had been a complete aberration on his client’s behalf.
Assumpta O’Rourke, defending Singh, said the robbery had not been her client’s “brainchild” and the court heard that Singh had not been responsible for the threats and intimidation suffered by MacCrae.
More than 20 items of jewellery were pawned after the robbery, but the bulk of Mrs Scott’s property has now been recovered.
In her victim impact statement she described the stress and anxiety she had suffered and the court heard that a few days after the robbery the complainant was admitted to hospital with breathing problems.
Judge Burn said that while the two defendants would serve “a number of years in prison”, their victim might never overcome the trauma.