Sherie North: Woman who robbed own grandad jailed Published duration 21 February 2019

image copyright West Yorkshire Police image caption The Solicitor General said Sherie North had "terrorised her own grandfather to feed her drug addiction"

A woman who helped her boyfriend raid her grandfather's home to feed a drug habit has been jailed for four years.

Sherie North was jailed in her absence on Tuesday after the Court of Appeal said a previous suspended sentence was "unduly lenient".

North, 24, had admitted two counts of robbery and one count of attempted robbery with her then partner Scott Cross, 34, in Bradford, West Yorkshire.

A warrant was issued and she had now been arrested by police.

North, of Harden Grove, Ravenscliffe, Bradford, was given the suspended sentence at Bradford Crown Court in December but the case was referred by the Attorney General's office.

She did not appear in the dock for her breach proceedings after her solicitor advocate told the judge he had not yet spoken to his client in the cells and she did not know about the decision to jail her.

At the Court of Appeal Lord Justice Holroyde said Cross, of Wharncliffe Crescent, Eccleshill, Bradford, and North robbed North's grandfather at his home in September.

They took jewellery and cash after Cross threatened the 70-year-old with a hammer and knocked him to the floor.

Days later the pair returned and attempted to rob the man again but he raised the alarm and the pair left empty-handed, the judge said.

They then robbed a shop, with cash and a shopkeeper's silver chain stolen.

Terrorised grandfather

Joel Smith, for Solicitor General Robert Buckland QC, said North's suspended sentence was "far below" the sentence she should have received.

John Bottomley, for North, said his client had played "a limited function in this offending" and suggested it was "possibly under direction".

But Lord Justice Holroyde, sitting with Mrs Justice Farbey and Judge Clement Goldstone QC, said there were aggravating features to the robbery of North's grandfather, including his vulnerability, having "recently left hospital after surgery to his leg".

The Solicitor General, speaking after the hearing, said: "North terrorised her own grandfather to feed her drug addiction."

Cross, whose sentence was not referred to the court, was jailed for nine years.