A BURGLAR who preyed on elderly people in Worcester to feed a drug habit has been jailed for four years.

Edward Corbyn tricked his way into one house by pretending to be from Neighbourhood Watch.

He stole handbags and cash from victims as old as 85 during a five-day crime spree in July this year.

He also walked up to a parked car and stole a bag from a 77-year-old pensioner as she sat in the passenger seat, Worcester Crown Court was told.

Corbyn, aged 25, of Station Road, Pershore, pleaded guilty to three burglaries and theft. He asked for two more distraction house raids to be taken into consideration.

Recorder Denis Desmond told him: “Preying on the elderly warrants a severe sentence to deter you and others and to reassure victims that the courts will not be lenient.”

He said Corbyn had been given community orders with drug rehabilitation in the past in a bid to get him off heroin, but had breached them four times.

Prosecutor Kerry Moreton said the defendant approached a Ford Mondeo in Worcester with two pensioners inside on July 6.

He asked for tissues, grasped the door to stop it being shut and grabbed a bag. An off-duty community support officer recognised him as he fled and called police. Corbyn was arrested in a store and later granted bail.

Next day he burgled the home of the 85-year-old in St Paul’s Street and on July 9 targeted a house in Merriman’s Hill where the ocupants, both in their 80s, had lived for 46 years.

They were out but he forced the door and took a purse containing £30 from a sideboard. He left blood from a cut at the scene.

On July 10, he confronted a woman at the back door of her home in Flagmeadow Walk and said he was from Neighbourhood Watch.

He tricked her into believing him, said Miss Moreton, and then asked for a glass of water before stealing her purse, £20 and a bus pass.

Later the same day he walked into another house in Cyprus Street. The 78-year-old occupant had been ill for a year from a hospital bug. He went into her bedroom, held the door closed but she bravely hit him with a phone and he ran out in panic.

Miss Moreton said he confessed to police he had deliberately targeted the elderly because it was easier to commit crimes against them. He had 19 previous offences for theft and fraud.

Charles Hamer, defending, said: “He is aware of the effect of this kind of offending on elderly people. He is deeply sorry for the upset he caused and wishes to make a public apology.

“He feels very guilty and a part of him wanted to be caught. He acted with recklessness, left fingerprintson glasses and had no disguise.”