A homeless man who robbed a pensioner in her own home after she offered him help and made him a cup of coffee has been jailed for six years.
Christopher McCormick turned on the 70-year-old after he showed up at her door in Ibrox, Glasgow, on January 19 this year.
The pensioner was alone at the time while her husband was in hospital.
McCormick ransacked the house, with his loot including sentimental jewellery, cash inside birthday cards and a mobile phone.
The 36-year-old was sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow on Tuesday after earlier pleading guilty to assault and robbery.
Lord Mulholland told him: “She offered you warmth and even made you a cup of coffee.
“Notwithstanding her kindness, you subjected her to a cowardly ordeal.
“She has been mentally affected. You should be thoroughly ashamed.”
The victim answered the door on the morning of the attack believing it may be a carer.
McCormick, who had been staying in a homeless hostel nearby, was there instead, claiming he was cold.
The pensioner gave him a hot drink, but McCormick soon brandished a blade and started rummaging through drawers.
Prosecutor Eric Robertson said: “He put on gloves and took three birthday cards each with a £20 note inside, as well as £20 from a table.
“He then took another knife from the kitchen and told her to go upstairs with him.
“He searched through a jewellery box and removed items including two pearl necklaces belonging to her mother.”
McCormick’s haul further included bank cards, an electronic tablet device and a box of cigars.
He also threatened to tie up the frightened pensioner, tried to get her to write a cheque for £500, and damaged a photo of a relative.
McCormick eventually fled before the upset victim was discovered still in her nightdress.
McCormick was later snared due to his DNA left at the scene.
Euan Dow, defending, said McCormick had received a “significant” compensation payout after being attacked himself in 2004, which “lead in part” to him developing a drug habit.
He then ended up homeless following the death of his mother in 2011.
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