Brutal gang locked up

A gang of travellers who pocketed almost £23,000 by tricking, threatening and attacking vulnerable pensioners have each been jailed for up to 10 years.

The men, including one from Wolverhampton, deliberately picked on people who were frail, disabled and mostly women.

They then tried to con or bully cash from the victims – with an average age of 79 – after posing as water board engineers.

The thugs, all using traveller sites as bases, struck 35 times in less than two years.

One 96-year-old man had his life savings of nearly £11,000 stolen.

Patrick Purcell, aged 25, from Kingswinford, Dudley, Felix Rooney, 27, from Wolverhampton, John Delaney, 22, from Wrexham, and John Paul Connors, 21, from Derby, all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to burgle.

Delaney, who also admitted two charges of robbery and one of aggravated burglary, was jailed for 10-and-a-half years. Connors was jailed for eight years and ordered to pay £10,000 compensation to a 96-year-old victim. Purcell was sentenced to six years and nine months while Rooney was jailed for five years and four months. The court heard the men targeted homes around the West Midlands.