A BROMSGROVE woman has been warned she faces jail after being found guilty by a jury of burgling a blind man.

Kathleen Taylor, 30, of Austin Road, denied the offences that happened on November 19 and 24, last year.

She accepted, under cross examination by the prosecution, that she had convictions for stealing after going into people’s homes on four previous occasions.

After the jury took just 45 minutes to find her guilty, they heard Taylor also faced sentence for robbery and assault causing actual bodily harm, which she has admitted.

Judge Robert Juckes QC, said the thefts from William Kendall had been “a particularly mean offence”.

Warning Taylor she faced prison when she is sentenced later this month, Judge Juckes told her: “You have been convicted on what was overwhelming evidence from an extraordinarily impressive witness, whose evidence I won’t forget.”

Adrian Harris, prosecuting, told Worcester Crown Court that Mr Kendall, who lives in Gilbert Road, Bromsgrove, was offering for sale his daughter’s car, parked outside his home with an £800 price tag on it.

Taylor called with her mother to buy it but did not have all the money. He accepted a £400 down payment, with the rest to come in instalments.

Mr Harris said Taylor went back the following week and handed over what she said was £100 but which turned out to be only £50.

Mr Kendall thought he heard a second person with her in the flat and, when she had gone, he checked in a bedroom drawer and found £14 and a speaking watch were missing.

The following week she went back to pay more money and he again thought he heard someone else there.

This time his iPhone was missing but his watch had returned, because it was broken.

The iPhone was also broken, so the total haul was £14.

Mr Kendall called the police.

Taylor told the jury she and her mother planned to take turns at paying £100 per week to complete the purchase of the Escort cabriolet car.

She denied that she had gone to Mr Kendall’s home on November 19 but said she went there with her mother on November 24.

Her mother had said “hello” to him.

She claimed she gave him £100 and he gave her a receipt. She insisted that neither she nor her mother went into any room at his flat, other than the kitchen.

Taylor added that she discussed with Mr Kendall that the battery was not turning over properly and the electric window would not open. He had said they could “knock off” some of the money they owed him.

The following week, she said, they did not have the money to pay their instalment because Christmas was coming and they had to buy presents for her children – but they did not contact Mr Kendall to tell him that.