Three acolytes who allegedly violently robbed a grandmother and then kidnapped it from her home on Christmas Day under the terrified eyes of their 8-year-old granddaughter were sentenced on Tuesday to a total of 33 years in prison for their crime.
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“I can only imagine how awful it must have been for the occupants of that house. […] I hope the family finds comfort in the fact that all three people involved in this incident are now behind bars,” Merseyside Police Inspector James Rotheram told The Mirror on Tuesday.
On Christmas Day 2019, Gary Groves, 55, Geoffrey Hayes, 47, and his girlfriend Sarah Howitt, 42, allegedly forced their way into the home in Liverpool, UK, after the woman pretended to need help to help the grandmother open the door to encourage .
At this point, the trio are said to have burst into the house with a knife to hit the grandmother and cut her ear before demanding money from her.
They then allegedly forced the girl to show them where the valuables and the keys to the car were before they fled and forcibly dragged the struggling grandmother into her own Audi, with Geoffrey Hayes taking his place at the wheel.
However, the driver of the Audi would have crashed into other vehicles and the sidewalk as he fled, until he overturned the vehicle the poor victim was in.
“Help me. Keep him away from me, he kidnapped and beat me. Please don’t let him hit me again,” the blood-covered grandmother is said to have pleaded with witnesses at the scene, according to the British newspaper.
The grandmother suffered numerous bruises on her face and head, as well as seven broken ribs and a black eye, as well as a laceration in her ear.
After Geoffrey Hayes had already been sentenced to 14 years in prison and his wife Sarah Howitt to four and a half years, Gary Groves also received a 14-year sentence on Tuesday.
“Our message to the perpetrators involved in robberies is clear: there is no hiding from you. “We will use all the evidence we have to find you and bring you to justice,” the inspector reportedly concluded, according to The Mirror.