A DRUG addict who tricked his way into the homes of pensioners in Bolton has been jailed for four years.

Colin McPhee, aged 26, first struck on July 30 at the home of a pensioner in Singleton Avenue.

He told the 85-year-old woman and her daughter, who was visiting, about gardening jobs that needed doing.

McPhee walked uninvited into the kitchen and sat down and when asked to leave, he took his top off.

As the distressed women tried to usher him out, he was seen hiding something behind his back wrapped in his T-shirt.

McPhee ran away and the women discovered that the pensioner's handbag containing cash had been stolen, said Lindsay Thomas, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court.

On August 2, he trimmed a hedge at a house in Bradford Road, Bolton, and was paid £45.

The householder went to get a bag for the cuttings and saw McPhee in his living room.

He claimed he was looking for a pen and left. The householder then found that a wallet containing £35 had been taken.

McPhee, of Ridley Avenue, Acklam, Middlesbrough, pleaded guilty to the two burglaries and had seven similar offences taken into consideration. The court heard that he was currently serving five years in jail, imposed in September by Teeside Crown Court, for other burglaries.

Judge John Phipps sentenced McPhee to four years to run concurrently to his other sentence.

Laura Barbour, defending, said McPhee committed the offences because of his expensive heroin habit.