Woman, 86, attacked in burglary, jury told

Nicholas Mason was ‘foaming at the mouth’ and speaking in a Dalek type voice during the early-morning raid on the pensioner’s home, Birmingham Crown Court heard.

Mason punched the pensioner several times before dragging her up the stairs backwards by her ankles where he kicked her in the face and body to reveal the code or hand over a key to the safe, the court was told.

But he was disturbed by the victim’s daughter who had been called by her mother when Mason had left her alone in the kitchen for a moment.

The daughter lunged at him, grabbing his jacket, prompting him to turn around to face her, ‘foaming around the mouth as if on drugs’, said Mr Benjamin Aina, QC, prosecuting.

He went on: “He said to her in a very slow Dalek-type voice ‘Get away from me or I’m going to kill you’. He was gritting his teeth as he spoke.”

Mason escaped with nothing but a cordless phone, the court heard. The court heard the elderly victim had been left with broken bones in her neck, nose and back.

Mason continued on his rampage, breaking into or attempting to break into several more houses over the next hour, it was said. The jury heard the 44-year-old had stolen a Ford Mondeo from Lowe Street, Whitmore Reans, in the early hours of June 5 before driving to his elderly victim’s home in Yardley.

Three days later he reportedly stole a Ford Focus and bank cards from a house in Nantwich before breaking into homes in Albany Crescent and Hurstbourne Crescent, East Park, Wolverhampton, Darlaston Road and Nowell Street, Darlaston, and Lime Road, Wednesbury. He was arrested at the Hurstbourne Crescent burglary after he was confronted carrying a £1,250 laptop and £200 phone into the back garden by the occupant. As the two men fought the victim’s daughter called 999.

The court heard yhat on May 31, Mason had also stolen an iPad, iPhone and bank cards from a house in Green Drive, Oxley, then driving to Asda in Molineux Way and a nearby wine store, fraudulently paying for purchases.

Two days later he is alleged to have stolen jewellery worth £1,839 after breaking into a house in Farndale Avenue, Whitmore Reans.

Mason, of Larches Lane, Chapel Ash, denies 13 charges of burglary, five of fraud, three of theft, two of attempted burglary, wounding with intent and handling stolen goods.

The case continues.