AS far as Sjohne Dunlop is concerned, the Rat of the Year in Fife was the bogus workman who conned his
95-year-old widowed grandmother into paying him #120 for a roof repair that was never done.
Mrs Cathlene Daniels died only months later, and Mr Dunlop is convinced that her death was at least hastened by the state of fear into which the experience plunged her.
George McGlashan, of Kirkcaldy, received the maximum possible sentence from a sheriff - three years' imprisonment - for the crime and similar offences involving other elderly women he targeted, the youngest aged 74.
However, Mr Dunlop, a lorry driver, of Livingston, West Lothian, would have been happier if McGlashan had been jailed for much longer.
''His actions killed my grandmother just as surely as he would have done sticking a knife into her,'' he said. ''There is no doubt in my mind that what this rat did to her robbed her not just of her
hard-earned savings - it robbed her of her life as well.''
He described his grandmother as a lovely old lady, full of spirit and vitality in spite of her advancing years.
''My gran was well-known and well-liked by everyone in her village, where she walked everywhere until this man filled her heart with fear. He turned a trusting old lady into a broken woman who simply lost her faith in her fellow human beings.
Mr Dunlop added: ''In the end, she was just too frightened to go out of her front door, and when the toll on her health finally took her into hospital, she told me she just wanted to die.
''Her will to live had been stolen at the same time as her money.''
Mrs Daniels died on New Year's Day. She did not survive to see McGlashan sentenced. Her grandson said that the idea of McGlashan being free again in much less than three years ''preyed'' on his mind. ''My grandmother will never be back at all.''
The chief constable of Fife, John Hamilton, shares the public's contempt for the bogus workmen and doorstepping thieves and conmen who target the elderly, the sick and the otherwise vulnerable. He is well aware of the lasting damage done to victims. ''All too often these despicable crimes have a completely devastating effect on the victims at a time of their lives when they patently deserve so much better,'' he said.
The perpetrators would be ''pursued with vigour'' and he was delighted to support Operation Hamelin II.
He added: ''By letting as many people as possible know of the pitfalls of doing business on the doorstep or the dangers of allowing strangers into the home, it will help make finding victims all the harder for the criminals involved.''
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