Thief jailed for widow's death

A BOGUS official who killed a frail 84-year-old widow during a series of violent robberies was jailed for 17 years yesterday.

Francis Dickinson, 32, admitted manslaughter and 11 offences of robbery or burglary between October 1996 and August 1997. In August last year, he returned to the home of one of his earlier victims, Eliza "Betty" Brown, a diabetic with Parkinson's disease who lived alone in Finchley, north London. He manhandled her, then threw her into a corner. Her head hit the cooker and she died later from the injury.