Daily Mail
September 22, 2015
A criminal family had been in Britain for just a month before robbing a 75-year-old woman of £1,250 in cash intended for her grandson’s birthday present.
Three East European family members staked out Lloyds TSB bank in Cardiff city centre to target the frail grandmother in broad daylight, then followed her home to steal her savings..
Grandmother Rachelle Harris took out £1,250 in cash from her bank to buy a guitar for her grandson’s birthday – but was attacked by the three criminals as she got on the bus home.
A court was told Romanian-born Gabriel Stefanescu, 38, his wife Florentina Baeram, 44, and his sister-in-law Violeta Stefanescu were caught on camera orchestrating the daylight robbery of her cash.
The trio worked as a team to spot Mrs Harris in the bank, trail her home and then rob her – and were branded ‘shameful’ by a judge.
Jailing all three, Judge David Aubrey said: ‘It was a cruel and calculated and shamefully cowardly offence and you operated as a team.