A drug addict who went into a "frenzy" and committed "appalling crimes against the community" was today behind bars.

In one burglary, Neil McCormack pinned an 80-year-old disabled woman to her bed and shook her.

Jailing him for a total of nine years, Judge Daniel Worsley said: "This was as miserable and shocking a burglary as has come before this court for some time."

McCormack, 23, was given five and a half years for aggravated burglary in East Street, Southend, in November last year, when he appeared at Basildon Crown Court yesterday.

He asked for 27 other burglaries to be considered as well as three burglaries and a robbery in the Southend area in October/November.

The court heard how he tried to flee Southend Crown Court when he was initially due to be sentenced on March 27.

He was sentenced to two and a half-years for robbery and one year for the attempted escape.

Published Wednesday, May 21, 2003

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