10:37am Monday 21st May 2012
By Hermione Wright
Three family members who worked together to burgle elderly and disabled people in their own homes were sentenced on Friday to more than ten years in jail.
Jonathon McCarthy, 21, of Bream Close in Tottenham posed as a builder working next door to each of the targeted houses.
He distracted each of the four victims while pretending to look for water leaks in their homes.
His brother, 29-year-old Patrick Collins of Maurice Bishop Terrace, View Road, in Highgate, creeped into each of the properties while McCarthy worked to distract the people.
Collins’ father-in-law, Francis Gavin, 44, acted as the getaway driver.
Four people were targeted by the men’s actions, including a 78-year-old man who lost more than £500 in the burglary.
An 84-year-old woman who lived alone in Woodford as well as a 51-year-old woman from Greenwich were also targeted by the men.
McCarthy was jailed for three years and four months, Collins was handed a four years and three months term, and Gavin was sentenced to two years and six months in jail.
Detective inspector John Cracknell, London crime squad at Finchley, said: "I am really pleased with the convictions and sentences given to these men who deliberately targeted vulnerable people.
“Such was the amount of evidence gathered against them that they had no option but to plead guilty.”
All three men pleaded guilty at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Wednesday, May 16 May.
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