'Despicable' window cleaner jailed for robbery
A "despicable" window cleaner who tied up a pensioner, threatened her into silence and stole £15 has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Constance Davies, 88, was watching television at home in Maesteg, Bridgend county, when Gavin Tainton burst in demanding money last August.
Debt-ridden Tainton, 32, was found guilty of robbery on Thursday at Cardiff Crown Court.
He erupted in rage when convicted and kicked a door on his way to the cells.
Sentencing Tainton, from Maesteg, Recorder Robert Britton said: "This was a most despicable crime against an 88-year-old vulnerable person, entering her house in a most cowardly fashion and she said you showed her no mercy."
Tainton used thick electrical cable to tie up Mrs Davies, pulled out her phone line and told her to stay quiet.
The shaken pensioner, who sustained a broken finger as well as numerous cuts and bruises, managed to wriggle free but remained silent until the following day when she summoned enough strength to go to see her doctor.
She begged a nurse that she "didn't want anyone to know" about her terrifying ordeal.
Tainton's fingerprints were found on the inside back-door handle of Mrs Davies' home.
But claimed he had been invited into Mrs Davies' home two weeks before the break-in after agreeing to clean her windows.
Tainton, who has previous convictions for burglary, insisted he had not carried out what he called a "junkie's crime".