A BURGLAR has been jailed for two years after a court heard how she deliberately targeted her 70-year-old victim because he had already been singled out by another criminal.

Hannah Louise Hardy, 28, of Workington, was caught thanks to the public spirited intervention of the victim’s neighbour, who flagged down a passing police car, allowing the defendant to be caught within a very short time, Carlisle Crown Court heard.

As she was being arrested by police officers, Hardy reacted by laughing, said prosecutor Gerard Rogerson.

The lawyer outlined how the pensioner she picked on had last year been the victim of a fraud, perpetrated by 27-year-old Kimberley Plaskett, who stole almost £2,500 from six victims living within two miles of her in Holden Road in Workington, Cumbria.

Hardy carried out her crime on December 29 last year.

The previous evening, said Mr Rogerson, she had visited him, giving a false name and then mentioning that she knew he had been the victim of Plaskett’s fraud.

The pensioner immediately told her he knew her name.

She left, but returned the following morning, knocking on his front door for a second time.

When he answered, she held up a tablet and said: “This is the one Kimberley Plaskett nicked from you.”

The pensioner told him that it was not his tablet, after which Hardy, from Poole Road, Salterbeck, told him he had dropped his cigarette on to the floor. After he pointed out that they were actually cigars, she leaned forward to pick them up for him.

As he was taking them, she leaned over and grabbed a Timberland watch which was in a bookcase near the front door.

She then ran off. A neighbour of the pensioner Jonathan McVennon gave chase, and after tracking down Hardy told her to return the watch, which she did.

A short time later, he flagged down a passing police car and alerted them to what had happened. She was quickly found and simply laughed when the officers involved arrested her.

Despite giving a false name to police, and then a no comment interview, Hardy admitted burglary. As well as the jail term, Judge James Adkin approved a restraining order preventing Hardy from contacting her victim in any way for the next five years. The court heard that she has numerous previous convictions for theft - including 18 from last year.

Referring to the impact on the elderly victim, Mr Rogerson said: “He felt he had been targeted. He is now wary of opening his front door.”

Brendan Burke, for Hardy, said his client’s life had been ravaged by drugs.

In the Plaskett case, she admitted a number of fraud and theft charges.

A heroin addict, who needed cash to fund her habit, she too was jailed for her crimes.