A thief who stole money from an elderly woman’s purse as she made him a cup of tea has been jailed.
Robert Mearns carried out a series of thefts in Aberdeen under the guise of selling cigarettes.
At the city’s sheriff court he pleaded guilty to seven charges of theft, with the amount stolen totalling nearly £1,000, while on bail.
The court heard the 36-year old targeted older people and the vulnerable in order to feed his £40-a-day drug habit.
On one occasion, Mearns made off with £130 from one woman’s purse after she declined his offer to sell her tobacco, but offered to make him a cup of tea.
He also posed as the son of a family known to another woman, before making off with £470 with a promise to return with boxes of cigarettes.
Fiscal Colin Nielson said Mearns returned two nights later and knocked on the same woman’s bedroom window claiming to have returned with the cigarettes.
He said: “She opened the front door to the accused, who asked to use the toilet, which she allowed him to do.
“He told her if she gave him another £20 he could get another 100 cigarettes from a friend – she duly handed over the money.
“The accused left and did not return with either the cash or the cigarettes.”
Mearns also stole a sum of money from another woman and her son by claiming he could get cheap tracksuits before disappearing with the cash.
Solicitor Alex Burn, said: “He took these steps so he could fund his heroin abuse and he does feel genuinely remorseful.”
Sentencing Mearns, Sheriff Summers said: “I’m dealing with seven charges of theft and fraud involving mainly elderly and vulnerable victims, two of whom you targeted twice.
“There has been no recovery of the money and you have a raft of analogous previous convictions.”
He sentenced Mearns, whose address was given as HMP Grampian, to 27 months in prison.
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