Man jailed for burgling neighbour’s house in Brooke the day after she died

A 62-year-old man with Parkinson’s disease has been jailed after he admitted a burglary at his 92-year-old neighbour’s house – the day after she died.
Gordon Barnes, of Churchill Place, Brooke, was jailed for four months when he appeared at Norwich Crown Court yesterday for sentence having previously admitted the burglary.
Judge Anthony Bate had adjourned sentencing from Tuesday to ensure the prison authorities could manage someone in Barnes’ condition.
As previously reported Michael Clare, for Barnes, who he insisted should receive full credit for his guilty plea, said his client was a “seriously unwell individual with a multitude of problems” who had been drinking and taking too much medication at the time.
Barnes lived next door to the victim, who died on May 28 last year.
Barnes, who the prosecution say would have known his neighbour had died because of the presence of paramedics and police, smashed a window to get into her property in the early hours of the following day, before stealing items, including a purse that had been in her handbag and a silver locket.
Two Second World War medals belonging to her brother, which were said to be “very dear to her”, were also taken in the raid.