THIS is the face of the man who preyed on elderly people in Malvern and tricked them out of hundreds of pounds.

Heroin addict James Horrigan, aged 37, chose people who were mostly aged over 80 as his targets and used a variety of excuses to get them to part with cash which he said he would pay back.

But Horrigan, of St Kitts Close, Malvern, took the money and did not return.

He was jailed for 21 months at Worcester Crown Court.

The court heard Horrigan burgled the home of an 81-yearold woman he was doing some work for. He used her keys to go into the house and take the immersion heater from the wall.

He loaded it on his flatbed lorry and drove off pretending he was a scrap dealer and shouting “any old iron, any old iron,” Lee Marklew, prosecuting, said.

Horrigan admitted 11 offences of fraud by false representation and one of burglary.

Mr Marklew said the eight victims were all in the Malvern area, all elderly and often intimidated by Horrigan’s physical presence.

Horrigan had gone to the home of one man and said he needed cash because his car had a puncture and he needed it to help a local vicar organise an event.

He was given £20 and later returned to ask for more money and got £140.

In other incidents, he said he needed money to help his friend who had been injured falling off scaffolding and was given £100; he knocked on the door of a man whose wife had recently died and asked to be given a lift to buy a spare tyre and got £100; he offered to cut an elderly woman’s hedge for £140 but when he got inside the house, she became frightened and he raised the price to £265, later returning to get a further £65 for a rotavator.

In another case he said his van had broken down and he needed £90, returning later for a further £30.

He also targeted another victim and said he needed cash for a wreath as his mother had just died but then forgot his story and returned on a later date to ask for cash to visit his mother in hospital.

Altogether, he got £710 from the ten offences.

While on bail for these, he stole the immersion heater worth £524 and sold it for scrap.

In January he approached an elderly man outside a supermarket and conned him into handing over cash, committing a further fraud offence.

Mark Lister, defending, said some of the victims had found Horrigan to be quietly spoken and polite.

He said Horrigan had relapsed into drug abuse and was using the money for his heroin addiction.

Judge John Cavell said Horrigan had relied on his physical size and presence and though the amount taken was not large, there had been eight victims and most them were over the age of 80.

He gave Horrigan 12 months to run concurrently for the 10 fraud offences, a further six months for the burglary and a further three months for the fraud committed while on bail, making it a total of 21 months.

Local Policing Inspector for Malvern Hills Jane Francis said: “Jamie Horrigan is a career criminal who has preyed upon the trusting nature of some of the most vulnerable in our community here at Malvern Hills.

“The sentencing of Horrigan to a term of imprisonment will ensure he is no longer at liberty to continue with his heartless offending and will offer some reassurance and closure to those affected by his actions.”