Jail for wallets thief, 37

A Birmingham man has been jailed for 36 weeks for stealing two wallets from a vulnerable pensioner.

At Warley magistrates court, Simon Churchley admitted theft from a person after stealing the wallets, which contained cash, credit cards and store cards, from his 85-year-old victim.

The 37-year-old who lives at the Dormy Hotel, Hagley Road, Edgbaston, was already subject to a suspended sentence for other offences.

Maxine Jarrousse, prosecuting, said the theft happened on April 19 in Waterloo Road, Smethwick.

She said: "He had been shopping in a hardware store, came out of the shop, walked to his motorbike, placed two wallets on the seat and whilst putting his crash helmet on a male has come out of nowhere and stolen them."

She said the victim saw two people running away from the scene and police officers were called and carried out an area search.

Churchley and the other man were tracked down in Stanhope Road, about a mile away.