A man who tied an 83-year-old woman to a chair while he ransacked her home and stole her jewellery, leaving her to die of hypothermia, has been jailed.
Polish-born Szymon Wyrostek, 26, will serve nine years for manslaughter, burglary and robbery of Eveline Kelmenson, at her home in Stamford Hill.
The pensioner, who lived alone in a five-bedroom house on Leweston Place, was bound, gagged and abandoned on the floor of her bedroom, still in her nightclothes. She died "a slow death on a freezing floor," according to police, and was only discovered five weeks later on New Year's Day 2009.
The robbers stole Ms Kelmenson's grandmother's wedding ring, a gold necklace and a key pendant.
Wyrostek's accomplice Kuba Dlugosz, 33, was found guilty in June and received an indeterminate sentence, not eligible for parole for seven years. The first jury failed to reach a verdict on Wyrostek, but he was found guilty at retrial.
Detective Chief Inspector Stewart Hill said: "Miss Kelmenson was a defenceless and vulnerable woman who had lived at the address in Stamford Hill [for] her entire life. She must have been absolutely terrified the night Dlugosz and Wyrostek entered her home and restrained her on the floor.
"As they left her property, carrying her valued possessions, they didn't spare one single thought for her welfare. She had no means to escape.
"The determination and tenacity of all those involved in the investigation has helped to secure the conviction of ruthless and wicked individuals. I can only hope that this result today brings some solace to Eveline's family."
