'Pick-pocket gang' targeted bus users

A gang of Eastern European pick-pockets slashed handbags to steal purses from vulnerable and elderly women passengers on buses across the Black Country, a jury heard.

Among those targeted during nine months of thefts was an 85-year-old who had £1,260 removed from bank accounts with cards stolen half an hour earlier, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told yesterday.

The victims, aged between 17 and 85, were distracted while their purses were snatched or bags cut open, prosecutor Matthew Barnes told the court.

They did not realise a theft had occured until later.

West Bromwich bus station was the focal point of the thieves who struck six times between January 1 and October 2 last year on the No 87, 74, 79, 16 and 404 routes, the court was told.

Seven people were involved with up to four at a time operating together to crowd or distract the target, said Mr Barnes.

He said: "They conspired together to steal valuables from bus passengers en route around Birmingham and the Black Country.

"All the victims were women and some were elderly which we say is evidence of planning and targeting vulnerable people.

"Sometimes the victims were aware of foreign or Eastern European people crowding around them, standing or sitting close to them, occasionally with a coat placed over their arm to make it easier for the actual taking of the purse to be concealed.

"It was only noticed that the purse had been taken after the event."

The first theft happened on the number 87 in High Street Smethwick on January 3 2009. The second involved the 74 service after it pulled out of West Bromwich bus station on January 27, while the third took place on the 16 service near the Rag Market in Birmingham city centre on April 19.

The jury was told that one person, Adam Gawron, had admitted some of the thefts.

Jacek Knysak, aged 34, Lukasz Michalik, 23 and Wiera Pawlowska, 40, all of Hayes Street, West Bromwich, Jaroslav Kasprzyk, 45, of High Street, West Bromwich, Janusz Gawron, 46, of Thursfield Road, West Bromwich and Adam Szwejda, aged 40, of Martley Road, Winson Green, deny conspiring together with Adam Gawron to steal from passengers.

The trial continues.