'Despicable' undertaker who stole purse from woman's body an hour after she died is jailed for just FOUR MONTHS

• Grahame Lawler admitted stealing Muriel Swift's purse after being called to the dead woman's home to escort her body to a mortuary
• Lawler had claimed he was traumatised by the 'vile, nasty' things he saw in the course of his work and said he saw the crime as a 'way out'
• He was sentenced to four months in jail at Cambridge Crown Court today

An undertaker who stole a purse from an elderly woman as he collected her body was jailed yesterday after a judge criticised the sickening ‘breach of trust’.
Grahame Lawler, 37, was called to Muriel Swift’s home minutes after it was discovered the 78-year-old disabled spinster had died.
He pounced after asking a police officer to hand some paperwork to a colleague outside the room, taking the purse which contained £10 in cash.

Jailed: Undertaker Grahame Lawler, seen outside Cambridge Crown Court today, was sentenced to four months in prison for stealing a purse from a woman less than an hour after she died

The police officer noticed the purse was missing after he left. When the married father of three was arrested at a mortuary it was found stuffed up his sleeve. Lawler, who worked for  Co-operative Funeralcare, was jailed for four months at Cambridge Crown Court yesterday after admitting theft from a pending estate.
Judge Jonathan Haworth told him: ‘It is difficult to think of a greater breach of trust than stealing from someone who has just died, abusing your position as an undertaker.
‘I can see no alternative but a prison sentence because people will want to see justice in this case.

‘Your good character and early guilty plea do nothing to change this fact. The mitigating factors in this case only lessen the amount of time you will serve.’
Diabetes sufferer Miss Swift, a retired manager of an engineering firm, was confined to a wheelchair after a leg was amputated following a serious fracture of the tibia and fibula.
Her body was discovered by her carer on July 6 after she passed away in the living room of her bungalow in Linton, Cambridgeshire.

Lawler was employed by Co-operative Funeralcare when he stole the purse, a crime the firm branded 'despicable'

A post-mortem examination later revealed she died from pulmonary embolism and deep vein thrombosis.
Sara Walker, prosecuting, said: ‘The attending officer searched the deceased’s handbag in the hope of finding [information about] a next-of-kin. In the handbag was a dark blue leather purse. The purse contained identification and bank notes.
‘Mr Lawler asked the police officer to leave the room to give a form to his work colleague who was in the ambulance.
‘Returning to the room, the officer searched for keys to secure the property, finding herself looking through the handbag once again. This time she noticed the purse was missing.’
When he was arrested at Papworth Hospital, Cambridge, Miss Swift’s bank cards and PIN she had noted down on a piece of paper were also found in his wallet.
Lawler, of Fulbourn, near Cambridge, was due to appear in court on September 17 but went on the run. He handed himself in two days later. The court heard he got into financial difficulty last year and was £12,000 in debt.
Jane Carpenter, 43, a friend of the pensioner who had no living relatives, was at court to hear the sentence. She said afterwards: ‘I knew Muriel a very long time and I thought the world of her, as did my kids. She was the kind of woman who was very giving. She was one of those women who would probably have given him some cash if he had needed it.
‘To steal from someone minutes after they have died is foul. I am pleased to see that he has been sent to prison.’