woman who died after being targeted repeatedly by burglars. Posted on 04/04/2005 1:35:36 PM PDT by LibWhacker
The first pictures have been released of the 105-year-old woman who died after being targeted repeatedly by burglars.
Amelia Whale, shown here celebrating her 100th birthday, refused to move from the home she shared with her younger brother Leonard in Islington, despite four break-ins in 18 months.
Police installed security bars and CCTV last year after the third burglary. But that did not stop Bernard Gallagher, 23, and Mark O'Brien 26, raiding her home last September and stealing £2,000.
The men were captured on CCTV.
The pair, both travellers, were caught on camera and traced to a campsite. They now face jail.
But Miss Whale, known to her friends as Dolly, will never see them receive justice. She died from natural causes last month after living in fear. Her friends and family said she never recovered from the trauma of the break-ins - and have called for lengthy jail sentences to be imposed.
Former neighbours Sheila and Tony Ashby said that Miss Whale's health deteriorated after the raid and that she had died fearful of becoming a victim yet again.
Mr Ashby, who now lives in Chingford, said: "They should get 20 years. Terrorising old people is not a victimless crime. They knew she was an old lady. She was as good as gold beforehand."
Mrs Ashby said her neighbour had been deliberately targeted by the intruders. "After the burglary she was very nervous, especially when Len went shopping. The cowards waited for Len to go out. They were taunting her." Miss Whale, a former leather worker, had lived in the house off Essex Road, for 93 years.
Gallagher and O'Brien admitted one count of burglary in court last Friday.
Snaresbrook Crown Court heard that they and an accomplice forced their way in while Miss Whale was in the sitting room. They then ransacked the flat, rifling through boxes and throwing them on to the floor.
They even dragged Miss Whale up from her chair to search underneath for her pension book. She was unable to stand up by herself.
Eventually the burglars discovered the Whales' life savings, stashed in a shoe box.
The CCTV set up at Miss Whale's home helped identify all three men. Police arrested Gallagher and O'Brien at a caravan site in Wickford, Essex. They will be sentenced on Friday, but the hunt for their accomplice goes on.
Hideous-hearted freaks.
Are there any men left in Britain? Dirty tinkers.
Maybe they can be terrorized daily by a Bubba while they're rotting in jail.
"travellers"=gypsies??
Scum either way.
Wow. Britain must be so proud of its brilliant law enforcement.
Give the good lady a Walther PPK and teach her to use it. She could defend herself! Problem solved. Oh, wait... then you'd have to put her in jail.
A friend of mine's 94 year old mother found someone trying to break in to her house, so she went and got her shotgun and loaded a shell into the chamber while he was cutting through the screen. Problem solved, case closed. He voluntarily left and did not return.
Well, at least she didn't shoot any criminals in her home, jolly good that!
Exactly what I was thinking. A 12 guage and a bellyfull of '00 buck shot would be a lot cheaper and more effective that CCTV.
AFAIK, and after doing some quick checking on the web, Travellers are Gypsies who don't tidy up after they rob, rape and murder you, lol; i.e., 'Traveller' seems to be a politically correct name for a Gypsy.
GO GRANDMA!
I love how they de-emphasize the fact that the men were "travellers". Translation: "professional criminals whose relatives are all professional criminals too".
Please show me where it says this on the web? I know a fair bit about Travellers -- Scottish, Irish, and a tiny bit about English, and have only heard of very exceptional cases where they were violent. Heartless scammers who will rob an old person of every dime, yes, but murders and rapists -- not that I've ever come across in my at one time very extensive research. They don't approve of violence because then their crimes become "persons" crimes and bring the law down in force, wherease mere robbery and fraud are only property crimes, and most victims -- not to mention most law enforcement officials -- recognize neither the scam nor the scammer. Most in law enforcement, at the time I did this research (a few years ago) had no idea of what a Traveller is. They could be operating in your town, and your local police folks would not know who they were or what they do.
Travellers are white. Blond, red-headed, brunette, blue-eyed, rosy-cheeked, NO palm reading or any of that exotic stuff, but a lot of ostentatious, Protestant church-going. They are "gypsies" in that they rarely stay in any one place for more than six months, and also in that they are raised from birth to scam, scam, scam.
A 20 gauge semi-auto short barrelled Mossberg or Remington might be more appropriate.
Burglars have made it a habit of breaking into homes in Great Britain, without worrying if anyone is home, because it is extremely unlikely that anyone inside might be armed. The stats are similar for Canada.
Hitler killed of a goodly portion of the Gypsies (Romanish) but the Travellers exist in many countries, including the US. Y'all will remember not too long ago that one traveler woman was caught on tape beating her kid in a WalMart lot. Kid could't shoplift well enough or something.
That is probably true regarding law enforcement agencies, but the banks certainly do. When my wife worked for a bank about seventeen years ago she used to get a heads up when they came into town from the management. Check kiting, short changing and stolen checks would increase dramatically.
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