Huddersfield thug beat own gran with her walking stick before demanding money and fizzy pop
A Huddersfield man who beat his grandmother with her own walking stick, forced her to give him money - and even put her on a time limit when she went to the shop to get him a drink.
Arron Frederick, 33, has been sentenced for coercive and controlling behaviour and assault occasioning actual bodily harm after his campaign of terror over the pensioner was revealed.
Leeds Crown Court heard on Monday that Frederick, of Bradley Boulevard, Sheepridge, was already the subject of a community order for a previous offence of coercive and controlling behaviour regarding the same victim. Prosecutor Anna Chambers said: "She is an 88-year-old woman and despite living alone he would attend at her house approximately every other day and she would feed him and take care of him.
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"Over a period of three of four years she has described him as demanding money from her, often money she didn't have herself and she would have to ask her neighbours and would have to pay them back. He started to demand hundreds of pounds with threats he would use violence against her and would ask: 'Are you scare of me?' In a threatening manner."
The court heard that during one incident, when the woman dared stand up to her grandson, Frederick assaulted her with her own walking stick. On May 20 last year, the court heard, he instructed her to go to the shop to get him a fizzy drink. Ms Chambers said he gave her a time limit of one hour and a half.
She said: "She asked the shop keeper to call the police. He went to the shop asking what was taking her so long and the police arrived."
The court heard Frederick also had previous convictions for battery.
Ms Chambers said in her original statement to the police, the woman said the offences had caused her to feel depressed and her "mental health and wellbeing have taken a massive knock." The woman said: "I don't understand how anyone could treat their grandmother like he treated me."
It was said a psychiatric and pre-sentence report had been carried out. Mitigating, Lucy Brown said: "I then go onto convey what he has asked me to and that is that he is utterly ashamed and incredibly sorry for his behaviour. He has had an opportunity to reflect on his behaviour and he is genuinely sorry for his behaviour."
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His Honour Judge Stubbs KC said: "He has got to stop doing it now."
Ms Brown added: "He makes that apology against that background...To his credit he did at least engage with the Probation Service and that offers some encouragement."
Judge Stubbs handed Frederick a 20-month sentence suspended for two years. He told him: "You have spent your life frittering your money away on illegal drugs, alcohol and sitting at your computer console and then you go to your grandmother's and threatens her so she's got no money left at all and then you can do it again. I'm told you are sorry about it."
Frederick replied: "I'm ashamed of it, yeah."
The judge added: "You should be. You should look inside every day and think how disgraceful it was. What am I going to do? This has to stop. You're a risk to members of your family. You have shown that...I can give you one more chance. If I'm wrong, I will clean up my own mistakes."
Frederick will have to undertake 35 rehabilitation activity requirement days and a nine-month alcohol treatment requirement.