Blackpool man jailed after attacking and robbing pensioner in his own home
A man has been given a sentence totalling 20 years after robbing a vulnerable 70-year-old victim and attacking him with a knife in his Blackpool home.
Officers were called to a property in the South Shore area of the resort at 11.17pm on May 24, 2020 to reports that the victim’s neighbour had brought people back to her property and they had caused damage to the front door.
Officers attended and instructed some of the people in the flat to leave, including defendant Nicholas Walsh.
At 12.41am on May 25, officers received a second call from the victim saying he had been robbed in his flat.
The victim said that he was in bed with his girlfriend when a man, later identified as Walsh, had entered the room with a knife and demanded to know where the money was.
Walsh then slashed the victim’s face and forearm with the knife and punched him repeatedly to the face.
Walsh took around £900 in cash. When the victim said that Walsh would be leaving him with no money for two weeks, the defendant threw £40 back at him.
Walsh dropped a further £400 when he left the flat, meaning that he escaped with around £500 in total.
Walsh was later captured on CCTV entering a petrol station on Yeadon Way, Blackpool. There he got into an argument with a man he had been with earlier in the victim’s neighbour’s flat. He was wearing no shoes at the time.
A taxi driver later told officers that he had picked up a man who had no shoes on and dropped him off at the petrol station.
An officer attended the petrol station and after viewing CCTV footage identified Walsh and confirmed that she had seen him in the victim’s neighbour’s flat on the night of May 24.
Walsh, 36, of Cambridge Road, Blackpool, was arrested on May 26, 2020, close to his home address, on suspicion of robbery.
During police interview, Walsh denied he was responsible for the robbery.
Walsh was found guilty of committing robbery following a trial at Preston Crown Court. Last week, Judge Robert Altham, the Recorder of Preston, jailed Walsh for 15 years and ordered him to serve a further five years on extended licence after deeming him to be a dangerous offender.
DC Darren Woodley, of Blackpool CID, said: “Walsh is a manipulative and cowardly individual who carried out a vicious attack with a weapon on a vulnerable pensioner in his own home – a place he was entitled to feel safe.
“It is worrying feature of this case just how quickly Walsh was prepared to resort to extreme violence. I am pleased that the judge recognised that he is a dangerous offender and imposed a sentence with the appropriate provisions for the authorities to monitor him even after he is released.
“Walsh believed that police did not have any evidence linking him to this crime but the jury saw that the facts spoke for themselves and he was responsible for this crime.”