A hooded raider has been jailed for eight years after he raided a dying man’s home in Looe and stole his entire £22,000 life savings from a safe.
Christopher Pengelly, aged 44, of Sunrising Estate, Looe, denied robbery but was found guilty by a jury at Truro Crown Court on Friday.
He targeted the 79-year-old victim because he was a friend of his father and he knew he had a large amount of cash at his home which he was planning to give to his family at Christmas.
Drug addict Pengelly had been to the victim’s home in Looe four months before the raid to as for money and saw where the pensioner kept a key for a locked safe cabinet.
He returned on October 31 with an as yet unidentified accomplice and they both wore balaclavas masks with eye slits which hid their faces. The pair burst into the unlocked property and confronted the terrified victim.
The other attacker held him down on a sofa while Pengelly fetched the key and opened the safe and they stole his life savings in 'bank bundles' of cash.
They fled but the victim recognised Pengelly’s voice and he was caught with £8,500 cash when police arrested him.
Judge Simon Carr said the victim has terminal cancer and had withdrawn all his life savings for cash to give to his children and grandchildren for Christmas.
He said the pensioner no longer felt safe in his house. He said: "You took every penny he had."