Pickpocket jailed, banned from shops

Grant and an accomplice were sentenced at Luton Crown Court

A Luton woman has been jailed for nearly three years and banned from the town's Arndale Shopping Centre for four years after she is released.

Luton Crown Court heard that Donna Grant, 34, who pleaded guilty to theft, specialised in stealing from elderly people.

Judge Anthony Ansell, who viewed CCTV footage that captured Grant stealing a handbag from a wheelchair-bound 93-year-old woman in March this year, called the offense "mean and despicable".

The court heard the victim was aware her handbag had been snatched in the centre's Tesco store, but because she was recovering from a stroke, she could not shout out for help.

Grant's accomplice, Jeffrey Conroy, 43, of Strangers Way, also admitted theft in March of this year and was jailed for 18 months.

The judge sentenced Grant, also known as Donna Morrison, of Albert Road, to 30 months imprisonment and ordered that she must serve 119 days of a previous sentence for which she was on licence when she committed the offence.

He also made an anti-social behaviour order banning Grant from the Arndale Centre for four years.

The judge said the ban will come into effect the moment she is released from jail.