Jailed: The heartless Coventry conman who preys on the elderly

[dutchman]

Steven White pleaded guilty to three charges of burglary and asked for eight more to be taken into consideration



A career conman from Coventry who tricked his way into sheltered accommodation to steal OAPs’ wallets and purses has been jailed.

Steven White pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to three charges of burglary and asked for eight more to be taken into consideration.

White, 32, of Peterlee Walk, Walsgrave, who had targeted addresses in Rugby and Leamington over the course of four days, was jailed for four years.

The court heard White had 32 previous convictions for 67 offences “including many which are similar to this” going back to when he was just 11 years old, although his last burglar conviction had been in 2009.

Prosecutor Robert Harding said that on November 8 White went to Mercer Court in Rugby.

He was allowed in after pressing the intercom saying he was looking for Janet, who he said was his aunt, and conned his way into the home of a 72-year-old woman who was taken in because she knew someone called Janet.

But once inside her flat, he claimed he was there to check for condensation, and went into various rooms before leaving hurriedly.

After he had gone, the pensioner discovered that her purse had been taken containing £15 and a card which was then used to withdraw £220.

Three days later a man who is wheelchair-bound and his wife, who suffers from dementia, were at their home in sheltered accommodation in Queensway Court, Leamington, when White turned up.

He claimed he was there as a worker in the building and asked to use the toilet, and the couple agreed.

But he then went into other rooms, saying he needed to check the windows, and stole the husband’s wallet with bank cards and £100 in cash in it.

The same day he tricked his way into the home of an elderly man, also in Queensway Court, using the same story and stole that man’s wallet containing a card and £100.

When he was later arrested White admitted the offences and confessed to a further eight similar burglaries he had committed during the same period.