A woman who dragged her grandmother around by her hair and suffocated her with a pillow in a desperate attempt to steal cash has been jailed.
Grace Smith attacked 73-year-old Mary Smith in July last year, “suffocating her into submission” and stealing her bank card.
The attack was just one incident in a campaign of theft and harassment that the 20-year-old carried out against several family members over a number of years.
Smith began stealing from her nan back in February 2019, committing credit card fraud to spend large sums of her relative's money, including £500 on food orders.
She also tried to pawn her mum's ring inherited from her late father, the Liverpool Echo reports.
She then went further just over a year later, using details of a different card to make just under £3,500 worth of order on Amazon, Uber Eats and Netflix.
Christopher Hopkins, prosecuting, said Smith also stole an onyx ring from her mother, Deborah Smith, and tried to pawn it for a fraction of its value, though police managed to recover it.
A restraining order was made at the end of 2020 to stop her contacting both her mum and grandmother.
However, she began to ignore the order and started harassing her grandmother once again last July.
She asked her for money on three separate dates in July, at one point following her to her home in Anfield and pestering her until her nan gave her cash.
Then, on July 14, she put a note through her grandmother’s door at around 9.30pm asking for money.
Around 20 minutes later she came back and managed to get into the house through a window.
As Ms Smith came out of her bedroom she saw her granddaughter running up the stairs.
Smith then started demanding her card and, when her grandmother refused, she scratched her and pulled her by the hair.
Mr Hopkins said: “She then took a pillow from her grandmother’s bed and put it over her face.”
Her grandmother handed over the card and Smith escaped downstairs and managed to spend £200 before it was possible to cancel it.
Mary Smith made limited statements to the court but Mr Hopkins said it was clear that the effect of the incident and ensuing prosecution on her had been “completely devastating”.
Deborah Smith said her decision to report her daughter to the police had only come when her behaviour had become completely unmanageable for the family.
In a statement read in court today, Ms Smith said: “I know it is my daughter and this was a difficult decision but I can no longer live my life like this.”
Carmel Wilde, defending, said Smith had been in an abusive relationship in the past and spent significant periods in care, leaving her with an undiagnosed psychological condition.
She said: "These points of mitigation are not an excuse for her behaviour but it does go some way to try to explain and put these events in context."
Ms Wilde said Smith "is willing to change" and was making good progress with rehabilitation work in custody.
Jailing the 20-year-old, Judge David Potter said he realised her time in care and being the victim of domestic violence would have had a profound effect on her.
He said: "I fully accept that your short life has itself been full of trauma.
"You spent a significant period of your life in care. Whilst in care you met and started a relationship with another care leaver who, I am satisfied, subjected you to violence and coercive behaviour."
However, he said the slew of crimes she committed, particularly the robbery on her grandmother, meant her sentence would be lengthy.
Addressing her use of a pillow to smother Mary Smith, Judge Potter said: “You effectively suffocated her into submission.”
Judge Potter said: “I hope that this sentence does mark a turning point in your life and that you use this sentence constructively but only you can decide what you do now.”
Smith, of HMP Styal, was sentenced to six years and two months in custody for a range of offences including robbery, theft, fraud and numerous breaches of a restraining order.
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
