Teenager jailed for plot to kill grandfather and claim inheritance

The pensioner's adopted daughter was jailed for 17 years after being found guilty of conspiracy to murder

A teenage girl was jailed today and her sister given a youth rehabilitation order for their part in a plot to kill their 89-year-old grandfather so they would receive an inheritance.

The elderly man, who suffered from dementia and lived with his wife, was attacked with bricks at his bungalow in a village near Winchester, Hampshire, on 15 November last year.

Last month the pensioner's adopted daughter, 49, was jailed for 17 years and her son, aged 19, was given an indeterminate sentence in a young offenders' institution after being found guilty of conspiracy to murder.

The woman's elder daughter, 16, was found guilty of conspiracy to murder and was given a 26-month youth detention order at Winchester Crown Court.

Her younger sister, 14, was given a two-year youth rehabilitation order after she was convicted of wounding with intent but acquitted of the conspiracy charge.

A third girl, the son's 17-year-old girlfriend, was also found guilty of the conspiracy charge and was sentenced to three years' youth detention. The girls sobbed as they sat in the well of the court with their social workers when their sentences were handed down.

Sentencing the two older girls, Mr Justice Foskett said: "The very unusual circumstances of this case do not put you in the same category as a group of youths who go out armed with guns or knives with the intention of killing a particular individual or of anyone who has the misfortune to cross their path.

"Nonetheless, the essence of the offence of which you were convicted is that you were prepared to contemplate the death of another individual.

"Whatever your personal circumstances, that is something it is impossible to overlook. I cannot avoid a custodial sentence in your two cases," he added.