A distraction burglar who tried to steal a pensioner’s purse when she targeted her home has been jailed for 27 months.

Mother-of-three Emma Latham grabbed the purse after being let into the 83-year-old’s home to use a pen.

She was spotted rifling through it by the pensioner’s 14-year-old grandson, who wrestled the item from her and forced her out.

The distraction burglary was described as an “utterly mean and despicable crime” by Judge Martin Walsh, who jailed Latham at Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday.

Prosecutor Mrs Sati Ruck said 29-year-old Latham, of Romsley Way, Moxley, Walsall, struck at the pensioner’s home in Walsall home in August.

She had asked for a pen and paper to leave a note for someone she knew in the block of flats where the pensioner lives.

But as the woman searched for the items, Latham looked for handbag in the lounge. She was spotted by the teenager, who had stayed over at his grandmother’s the night before.

Latham, who admitted burglary, was forced out of the house, off Sutton Road, and was arrested a month later after being identified in a line-up by the teenager.

Mrs Ruck said the pensioner was left scared to let people into her home.

The court heard that Latham had a string of convictions for similar offences, receiving an 18-month jail term in 2008. She also had a conviction for battery.

Latham initially denied the offence in interview but pleaded guilty at her second court appearance.

Mr Tim Sapwell, for Latham, said she was remorseful and recognised the impact her crime had on the victim.

But Judge Walsh said that only a prison sentence could follow. He told her: “You have pleaded guilty to an utterly mean and despicable crime committed against a vulnerable and elderly wo-man in her own home.”