A career thief who targeted ‘elderly and vulnerable people’ to be victims of his fraud and theft offending has been jailed.

Kevin Nanton, 56, of Saunders Road, Oxford, was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on Thursday (October) for 12 counts of thefts and five counts of fraud by false representation.

The court heard the defendant targeted elderly people and stole their keys, wallets, and personal photographs, causing them ‘emotional distress’.

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Sentencing him to 37 months imprisonment, Recorder Jaron Crooknorth said: “It was a deliberately targeting of vulnerable, elderly people.

“It was ever so unfortunate that they happened upon you. This was fraud and theft on a substantial scale.

“You have a long-standing gambling addiction, you are weak and you were preying on those weaker than you.”

During the sentencing, it was heard that last year on July 14, he stole £290 from Linda Lane, on July 19 he stole £120 from Dennis Hambridge, on July 20, he stole £100 from Ellen Webster, on July 22 he stole £75 from Keith Willson, then on September 11, he stole £225 from Martin Loudon.

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He then stole £200 on September 19 from Catherine Oppenheimer, on September 21 he stole £620 from Christine Coleman, on September 26 he stole £70 from Malcolm Smith, on August 26 he stole £80 from Adrian Williams, as well as £50 from Marieke Clarke.

On September 21 in Carterton, he was caught withdrawing money from a card machine using a stolen bank card.

The total amount of money Nanton stole was £1,830.

Nanton, who has more than 200 offences on his record and 135 alone for dishonesty, avoided jail last year, after stealing wallets from the elderly in Thame and Oxford.

Defending Nanton, his barrister explained that Nanton has a long-standing gambling addiction and the offences were born from this.

She added: “He is sorry for what he’s done and accepts there is no excuse for the behaviour he’s engaged in and the fact he’s done it repeatedly.”

It was heard that Nanton made efforts to return the personal items stolen from the elderly people, such as private photos.

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He did this by leaving them in public places where they could be found such as pet shops and charity shop changing rooms.

His barrister added that Nanton has been working in the prison library for the last year while he’s been in custody.

Concluding the hearing, Recorder Crooknorth said: “In custody, you are probably the person you would like to be as opposed to the person you are when out of custody.”