Robber preyed on 80-year-old woman and partially-sighted man during three-month crime spree

Nathan McBurney was sent to prison for six years and eight months after he targeted vulnerable victims and shop staff.

McBurney committed eleven offences over a three-month period in Ossett, Dewsbury, Batley and Huddersfield earlier this year.

During one offence he grabbed £250 in cash out of the hand of an 80-year-old woman after she left a bank.

The pensioner had withdrawn the cash to buy a present for a relative.

On another occasion McBurney snatched £280 from a partially-sighted man outside Halifax Bank in Batley.

The 30-year-old also attacked a man outside a BP garage by forcing him up against a wall and taking valuables from his pockets.

Michael Smith, prosecuting, said McBurney ran off with £40 worth of cigarettes from McColl's newsagents in Ossett.

Similar offences took place at Co-op stores in Dewsbury and Gomersall on July 31.

Another offence involved McBurney threatening a shop worker into opening the till.

He then took £80 in cash and a packet of cigarettes before leaving.

McBurney stole a shopkeeper's mobile phone worth £1,000 when he refused to hand over tobacco at his business premises in Dewsbury.

McBurney, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to nine offences of theft and two of robbery.

He has previous convictions for robbery, theft, drug dealing and breaching court orders.

Many of the offences took place after the defendant had been released on bail.

The court heard McBurney committed the offences to fund his drug habit.

He pleaded guilty to the offences at an early stage.