Scarborough woman jailed for drug supply and burgling elderly man's home

Adele Stingemore, 34, crept into the 67-year-old man’s sheltered accommodation in Scarborough, knowing he was an easy target because of his learning disabilities, York Crown Court heard.

The named victim was scrolling through his mobile phone at about 9.30am on May 19 when Stingemore suddenly appeared in his living room and asked if he had any toilet roll, said prosecutor Rob Galley.

“He saw a female come into his living room without knocking,” added Mr Galley.

“The female asked to borrow some toilet roll.

"He left his living room and went into another room (and) provided her with what appears to be a JD carrier bag and toilet roll.”

It was only when she had left the property that the victim realised that his mobile phone was missing.

The phone had many family photos of “great sentimental value” on it.

The victim said the theft left him “angry, shaken up and confused”.

Stingemore was readily identified from CCTV footage showing her going into the man’s address.

Police went to her home where they found the £200 phone, a small amount of cannabis – and the “borrowed” toilet roll hanging from a banister.

Stingemore was busted for drug supply when police swooped on her home in Spreight Lane Steps on February 27 last year.

They found small amounts of cocaine and amphetamine in the living room and seized her phone.

Forensic analysis of the phone revealed that Stingemore had been dealing Pregabalin, an anti-anxiety drug when lawfully prescribed but otherwise an illicit Class C substance when in the wrong hands.

Some of the messages showed Stingemore arranging to meet a female customer outside St Mary’s Church near her home to sell her some “PGs” - slang for Pregabalin.

Stingemore kept reminding her customers there was “no tick”, meaning they couldn’t get drugs without paying up front.

Mr Galley said the messages revealed that Stingemore had been dealing between November 2022 and February 2023.

She was charged with being concerned in the supply of Pregabalin, as well as simple possession of amphetamine and cocaine.

She was charged with burglary and possessing cannabis in relation to the incident at the sheltered accommodation and the subsequent search of her home in May.

She ultimately admitted all the offences and appeared for sentence via video link on August 23 after being remanded in custody.

Mr Galley said the offences were in breach of a suspended jail sentence handed to Stingemore in November last year when she was also given a drug-rehabilitation order.

She had 12 previous convictions for 17 offences including battery, harassment and affray.

Defence barrister Nick Peacock said there had been a “resurgence” in Stingemore’s offending since 2020 when she relapsed into drug use.

He said that Stingemore, who was currently a laundry and wing cleaner at Low Newton women’s prison, had come under the “malign influence” of a named man who was jailed for four years in October last year for possession with intent to supply Class A drugs.

Judge Simon Hickey told Stingemore that “unfortunately” she had not taken “the opportunity to turn your life around” when she was handed the suspended sentence and drug-treatment programme in November.

He condemned Stingemore for burgling the home of an elderly man with learning difficulties and stealing his phone on which there were “a lot of family photos which would have huge sentimental value”.

“You knew him as a friend of a recently deceased friend of yours,” added Mr Hickey.

“You must have known he was vulnerable and (had) learning difficulties.”

Stingemore was jailed for 20 months for the burglary, drug supply and breaching her suspended sentence.

She will serve half of that sentence behind bars before being released on prison licence.