WOMAN WHACKED POORLY PENSIONER OVER HEAD WITH PROSECCO BOTTLE DURING ROBBERY
Victoria Pedersen, aged 38, from Ripley Avenue, Meadow Well, North Shields, committed a violent robbery, during which she struck a 74-year-old woman with a bottle of Prosecco.The elderly victim, upon hearing her door buzzer, believed it was her son and pressed to let him in.
To her shock, it was Pedersen, a known drug addict who had previously asked her for money, accompanied by another woman.
When the victim refused to purchase alcohol or a watch, they became aggressive.
Pedersen violently hit the victim’s head with the bottle while the other woman kicked her.
When the victim attempted to prevent their escape, Pedersen callously kicked her walking stick away.
The assailants fled with her handbag, which held cash, her wedding and engagement rings, and medication.
Pedersen, with 132 previous convictions, was sentenced to seven years in prison.
On January 23, 2024, just after 5:30 pm, the elderly woman was at her bungalow in North Tyneside when she received the buzzer alert.
Expecting her son, she opened the door remotely.
Recognising Pedersen from an earlier encounter the previous year when Pedersen had asked her for money and received £10 the victim was unprepared for the violence that ensued.
Inside her home, Pedersen produced four stolen bottles of Prosecco, attempting to sell them.
The woman declined and told her to leave.
Pedersen then produced a watch to sell but was refused again.
She subsequently claimed to need medication, crying.
According to prosecutor Rachel Glover, the victim demanded Pedersen leave, offering her £10, which was ignored.
Pedersen then struck her with the Prosecco bottle and kicked her, although the court clarified the kick was not by Pedersen.
The other woman stole the victim’s handbag, containing valuables and medication.
As they escaped, the victim tried to stop them, but Pedersen callously kicked her walking stick away and fled.
The elderly woman suffered head tenderness and bruises, and in her victim impact statement, she expressed ongoing trauma, vulnerability, and health deterioration following the attack.
Her son contacted police after the incident.
When police traced Pedersen, they identified her as a suspect from CCTV footage used in a previous shoplifting case involving Prosecco.
The next day, Pedersen was arrested but gave false identification details, leading to her sister being summoned to court.
When police realised her true identity after fingerprint analysis they uncovered her deception, which had previously wasted police resources.
Pedersen claimed she was under the influence of diazepam and believed her sister would forgive her.
She pleaded guilty to robbery and perverting the course of justice and received a seven-year sentence.
Judge Tom Moran described her actions as particularly wicked and cowardly.
The court recognised her vulnerabilities, including long-standing substance misuse and recent operations related to drug-induced harm, and noted her remorse and self-disgust.
