Polish thief who tied up 83-year-old in her £1m home and left her to freeze to death is jailed indefinitely

Kuba Dlugosz has been jailed indefinitely after a series of burglaries in both Britain and Poland

A dangerous fugitive who was left free to kill a defenceless pensioner in her own home was jailed indefinitely today.



Kuba Dlugosz, 33, was wanted on a European arrest warrant for skipping a prison sentence when he attacked 83-year-old Eveline Kelmenson.



Dlugosz, real name Piotr Bugucki, was a convicted robber in Poland who fled to the UK in 2007.

He was arrested twice and appeared in court for burglary in the month before Miss Kelmenson was gagged, bound and left to die in her bedroom on November 27, 2008.



Police even obtained a DNA profile after he left part of a latex glove at one raid, but Metropolitan Police officers failed to cross-check his details or make inquiries about his status in Poland because he had used a false name.

Dlugosz broke in to Miss Kelmenson's £1m five-bedroom house in Stamford Hill in north London, where she had lived with her family since she was a child.









The Jewish spinster, known as Lena, was bound and gagged with gaffer tape, and left between two single beds in her first-floor bedroom.

Dlugosz forced his way in through the cellar and stripped her of a gold necklace and her mother's wedding ring, before locking her inside the sprawling house.



He then ransacked her home searching for 'anything of value' as she lay helpless on the floor.



She suffered a 'slow death' from hypothermia over the days that followed as she lay helpless and unable to free herself from the restraints.



Police found her body five weeks later, on January 1, 2009, after a niece, one of her few remaining relatives, became concerned that she could not be contacted.



Dlugosz was arrested in July last year after scientists extracted minute traces of his DNA from a chisel handle in Miss Kelmenson's house.

Victim: Eveline Kelmenson, 83, had few surviving relatives at the time of her death

He was convicted of manslaughter, robbery and burglary after a two-week trial at the Old Bailey last month.



Judge Gerald Gordon QC ordered he serve an indeterminate sentence for public protection, with a minimum term of seven years.



He said: 'What happened to Miss Kelmenson in November 2008, was to any right-thinking person, unbelievably awful.



'There she was, an obviously elderly lady in her own home at night in her dressing gown and night dress when she was seized, robbed of family jewellery and comprehensively tied and gagged with tape.



'Her house was ransacked no doubt while she lay there unable to move or call out, and then, almost worst of all, you robbers decamped leaving her there and telling no one.



'What you did caused an awful end to a decent, innocent, elderly lady's life, something it is clear that haunts her relatives and will doubtless continue to do so.



'You are a professional criminal. You are prepared to use violence and give not a moments thought to your victims.



'You have show neither remorse nor a desire to reform. I have no doubt whatsoever you are properly to be categorised as a dangerous offender.'



Dlugosz had been convicted of two robberies in his home city of Bialystok in November 2000.

On both occasions he and others had forced their way in to schools and bound up caretakers - almost identical attacks to that on Miss Kelmenson.



Home: Miss Kelmenson died in the house where she had lived all her life

He was jailed for seven years but was released on home leave on December 29, 2004. That same day he robbed his girlfriend's mother and was jailed for another three years and six months.



But Dlugosz was again given weekend home leave in 2007 and fled to the UK.



In October 2008 Dlugosz committed a burglary only a 'stone's throw' from Miss Kelmenson's house.



During the break-in, part of a rubber glove was ripped off and left at the scene, which enabled police to obtain his DNA profile.



Dlugosz first came to police attention two weeks later when he and another man tried to break in to a house the home of an elderly woman.



They were arrested and Dlugosz was charged with criminal damage and fined £100 by magistrates. But just four days later, Dlugosz was arrested again as he tried to force a door with another man.



He was released for a second time. Detectives have since admitted that the resources were not available for local police units to make checks in Poland and there was no mechanism in place to make officers aware he was wanted on a warrant.



Junior prosecutor Tom Little told the court: 'If he provided the name Piotr Bugucki he would never have been released from the police station but because of the nature of the offence, criminal damage, additional steps were not taken by the police, because the offence is not considered serious enough to do that.



'There is no way with this type of offence that any form of live scan could have taken place to compare his prints with those in Poland.'



Dlugosz's criminal history only came to light when detectives investigating Miss Kelmenson's death made their own inquiries. He has since received two prison sentences for convictions, which followed the attack on Miss Kelmenson and is still required to serve several years in prison in Poland.



It also took until last year for scientists to link the DNA traces from her home to his profile found at the bakery break-in, because of new techniques.



On the night of November 27, Dlugosz and at least one other made their way in to Miss Kelmenson's house through an insecure cellar window and then forced a locked door up to the ground floor.



Prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw QC said the break in was a 'terrifying experience' for the elderly victim.



Miss Kelmenson had complained to neighbours, family, workmen and carers that people were getting in to the house and moving her property, looking to steal money.



'Unfortunately the people she had made the complaints to had put it down to harmless delusions,' said Detective Chief Inspector Stewart Hill.



Miss Kelmenson, a former secretary, was the descendant of Russian migrants who arrived in the late 19th century.



She never married and had no children. She outlived her brother and sister, who also lived at the property. At the time of her death her only remaining relatives were her niece and her niece's children and grandchildren.



Her great great niece Laura Christofis said in a statement she continued to suffer nightmares about the attack on Miss Kelmenson, who she called Aunty Lena.



She said her family had been tormented by the 'undeserved' ordeal she had suffered at the hands of her attackers.



'In life Aunty Lena was kind, honest, outgoing and independent,' she said. 'She was unique.'



'Our family now carry the burden of knowing she met an untimely death, alone, cold and vulnerable.'

