A 79-year-old Perth woman fought off a thief who sneaked into her home.
However, Wilma Alma was left reeling after home-raider Nathan Taylor made off with her late husband Geert’s wedding ring and hundreds of pounds worth of jewellery.
Taylor was this week jailed for six months for the raid on Wilma’s Florence Place home.
It is a sentence which has left her disgusted.
Wilma explained she had been gardening when Taylor entered her home in Florence Place.
The sneak thief had not drawn the attention of her twin chihuahuas Lucky and Tia.
Wilma said: “I was up the top (of the garden) fixing rubbish people keep dumping in.
“He went into my house and had the cheek to lock the door behind him.
“I was gasping for something to drink. I couldn’t get in.
“I went and got the spare key.”
Doorstep melee
Having retrieved the key, Wilma said she could see Taylor, wearing a dark hoodie, moving behind the door when she tried to get back in.
“I nearly had a heart attack.
“It could have been a hospital case.
“I thought, who the heck is in my house without my permission?
“I was battling to get the door open.”
The retired care home laundress tussled to get into her flat before Taylor could escape and saw a jewellery box had been taken.
She told him: “Empty your pockets and hand back what you’ve taken.”
Taylor told Wilma he was looking for Willie.
She said: “There’s no Willie here.”
The two ended up struggling as Taylor tried to make off towards the nearby Asda store.
He dropped a £40 pair of earrings but she has not recovered the rest of his haul.
Taylor fled with hundreds of pounds worth of jewellery, including the wedding band which belonged to Wilma’s late husband Geert, from Friesland in the Netherlands, who she married in 1964.
He also took her purse.
Helped identify crook
Wilma was born in Perth and first stayed in the now flattened Ainslie Gardens, just a quarter of a mile away from her current home.
In 20 years of living at her Muirton home, she has never fallen victim to a housebreaking before – but insists she will never move.
She has not been put off gardening but said her door stays locked whether she is inside or out tending to her beloved fruit trees.
Wilma maintains somebody had briefed Taylor, who she says she recognised and was able to pick out for police, on where to look, as all her drawers were found open.
Forensics carried out a thorough examination of her home and she said his prints were recovered from a makeup case.
She said an ambulance had been called but she insisted to police she would shake it off.
Fighting talk
At Perth Sheriff Court on Wednesday, Taylor was jailed for six months.
Sheriff Keith O’Mahony said the social work report showed there was no alternative to custody.
“Having regard to the age of the complainer, I agree,” he told Taylor.
I would have wellied him. I was always a bit of a tomboy. I fight more like a man – I do pack a punch.”
— Wilma Alma
Wilma said: “Six months – is that all that rat got?
“He should have got longer. I was expecting at least two years.
“I’m still not back to normal. I still get the shakes.
“I was down and out for a wee while but I’m coming back to my normal self again.
“I’ll not give anybody a chance to beat me – no way Jose.
“I would have wellied him. I was always a bit of a tomboy.
“I fight more like a man – I do pack a punch.
“It’s hellish when they do that to elderly people, women who have worked all their days and get trash like him breaking into their house.”
Addiction issue
Taylor, 31, of Kestrel Way, Perth – which now occupies the land at Ainslie Gardens – previously admitted stealing a jewellery box, jewellery, a purse and its contents from Wilma’s home in Florence Place, Perth, on April 26.
Taylor was later apprehended at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.
At a previous hearing, solicitor David Holmes, said: “He does not remember what he was doing.
“He has a difficulty with drugs. He is apologetic for what has taken place.
“He is realistic about where he is likely to end up.”
