A MAN who targeted the elderly in a series of robberies and burglaries has been jailed for eight years.

James Evans, aged 35, had deliberately picked on pensioners throughout Lancashire and Greater Manchester. One elderly couple in Bury invited him in for a cup of tea but were left traumatised when he turned nasty and threatened them with a knife after demanding cash.

Evans, a traveller, had many previous convictions and had served a five year sentence for rape. Recorder Michael Davies, at Bolton Crown Court, told Evans yesterday: "In towns all over Lancashire you preyed on elderly and vulnerable people."

"These people deserve respect and courtesy and are entitled to protection by the courts. These were mean and wicked offences."

Evans, aged 35, formerly of Fenhill Caravan Park, Bury, committed a total of three robberies and one attempted robbery against elderly people as well as two burglaries in Timperley, Manchester, where his victims were aged 82 and 90.

Evans robbed Clifford Taylor, of Bury, when he followed his wife into the house where the unsuspecting victims offered him a cup of tea thinking he had come to help them.

The defendant sat down in the couple's kitchen and drank a cup of tea before grabbing a knife from the kitchen. He threatened to kill them if they did not hand over cash.

He said he needed money for the Metrolink and then £7 for a taxi home. He escaped with £810 in cash. The money was never recovered.

The court heard that Evans also committed a robbery and an attempted robbery, on Ellis Dewhurst, aged 84 and 76-year-old Doris Walmsley, in Preston.