A persistent beggar who has been jailed for four months was caught trying to get money from two off-duty police officers.

Peter Wilson, 47, had been given an antisocial behaviour order on June 2 banning him from begging anywhere in England and Wales for three years.

But he was caught breaching the order in Oxford city centre five times in a week - including trying to beg from two police officers on their way home from work.

He was jailed after admitting the five breaches when he appeared at Oxford Magistrates' Court on Friday.

Neighbourhood officer Pc Paul Phillips said Wilson had targeted people at their most vulnerable.

Pc Phillips said: "The breaches were mainly in Queen Street and Cornmarket Street. He was seen by the CCTV cameras and we also had a number of witness statements provided by people he had been begging from.

"We had a couple of off-duty police staff who were harassed by him on their way home from work on two occasions."

He said that once officers were aware that Wilson was begging, they trained the cameras on him and gained enough evidence to take him to court.

Pc Phillips added: "We could see he was persistently harassing people.

"In one of the incidents he was harassing people at the cash machines in Cornmarket in the evening, when people were out trying to enjoy themselves.

"He was hanging out at the machines and he actually managed to get cash from them a number of times.

"I would view that type of behaviour as pretty serious."

There are currently 10 people in Oxford who have been issued with Asbos banning them from begging - and Wilson is not the first to be sent to prison for breaking their orders.

Gareth Turp, 25, was jailed after being spotted begging on CCTV just hours after he was issued with an Asbo in July last year.

David Ambrose was also handed a jail sentence last year after being convicted of breaching the banning order.

Pc Phillips said aggressive begging was taken very seriously and added: "If people are being harassed or bullied by people this is a good opportunity to let us know, as soon as it happens.

"Then we can get the cameras on them and find out what's going on. We are persistently being told about begging problems in Oxford by people that either work in the city or are passing through - and it is a priority for us."