Robber attacked man, 81, and stole his safe

A robber who attacked an 81-year-old man in his own home is among a trio of people to be jailed for a series of violent group attacks.

Danny McGuire, 36, dragged the elderly victim along the floor of the man's Gateshead flat before ransacking his kitchen and stealing a safe containing £300 in cash, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

McGuire, from Washington, admitted robbery and was jailed for five years and 10 months, while his accomplice Tanya Tait, 40, was jailed for four years for offences including burglary.

In a separate incident, Tait and another man, Antonio Harle, beat a woman unconscious before using her finger to unlock her phone so they could plunder her bank account.

Tait, of no fixed abode and who had 42 offences on her criminal record, was involved in three separate attacks on people, Judge Robert Spragg said.

On 1 July 2023, she and another man, who has since died, were part of a group which repeatedly punched a man in a Gateshead street to steal his phone, the court heard.

Tait had asked the victim what the time was to get him to take his device out of his pocket before being one of the people to attack him, the judge said.

On 10 August 2023, Tait and Harle, 40 and of Whinbrooke in Leam Lane, brutally attacked a woman, knocking her unconscious with repeated punches and kicks to her head, the court heard.

They used her finger to unlock her phone so they could steal from her bank account before dumping her at a hospital, the judge said.

The woman suffered multiple injuries including a bleed to the brain which had left long-lasting neurological and psychological damage, the court heard.

On 2 May 2025, Tait took McGuire to the flat of an 81-year-old man she knew, but when the victim refused to let them in McGuire forced the door open, the court heard.

The victim was pushed to the floor before McGuire, of The Terraces, dragged him along the hallway, the judge said.

McGuire, who had 78 offences on his criminal record, then ransacked the man's kitchen, pulling a cupboard from a wall, before making off with a safe containing cash and the man's important documents, the court heard.

In a statement read to the court, the man said he was terrified of his attackers returning.

The judge said Tait knew the man would be an "easy target" with the robbery carried out for the attackers to buy drugs.

In mitigation, Rachel Hedworth said Tait had been left with an "entrenched" crack cocaine addiction after being the victim of years of horrific domestic abuse at the hands of an "animal" ex-partner.

Judge Spragg said he accepted Tait had issues and he hoped she would get the help she needed, but her problems were not the fault of her victims.

Harle was jailed for 27 months after admitting assault causing actual bodily harm.

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