A BURGLAR from Studley smeared his face with tomato ketchup before knocking on the door of an elderly couple’s home to trick his way inside before searching for cash.
But as Taj Ramzan rifled through a drawer expecting to find a large amount of money, his 86-year-old victim pluckily took him by the arm and led him out.
Ramzan was caught when the couple’s granddaughter set up a meeting after her ex-partner said he knew who was responsible.
Ramzan, 37, of Station Road, Studley, was jailed for 27 months after pleading guilty at Warwick Crown Court to carrying out the burglary in May with intent to steal.
Prosecutor Anthony Cartin said Ramzan had turned up at the elderly couple’s home in Central Avenue, Leamington, at 6.30am.
When the pensioner answered the door Ramzan, who appeared to have blood on his face, said he had been assaulted and asked for help.
“The defendant sidled his way in and made his way straight upstairs and began looking through a drawer,” said Mr Cartin.
But the senior citizen followed Ramzan, taking hold of his arm and telling him to leave – and he did so without taking anything.
The couple did not report it to the police at the time, but three days later one of their granddaughters was contacted by an ex-partner who said he knew who the offender was.
She asked him to bring the person to speak to her, and when they met at McDonalds and she questioned Ramzan, he admitted being responsible.
He told her a man called ‘Slim’ had asked him to commit the offence and provided him with information about the house and where to find what he believed was a substantial amount of money.
Ramzan said once inside the house he had thought of his own grandparents and had thought better of it.
Mr Cartin said the granddaughter’s former partner is known as Slim – but when questioned by police, he denied any involvement.
Nick Devine, defending, said Ramzan had a drug addiction and had started offending to feed the habit.
In relation to the burglary, he added: “There is evidence he was pointed in the right direction by someone else. His explanation is a drugs debt, and he was told ‘if you go there, you’ll find something worthwhile.’”
