A BAG snatcher who targeted elderly women so he could fund his drug habit has failed to get his jail sentence cut.

Jared Granville Nuttall, aged 30, of Brunswick Avenue, Horwich, was jailed for four years at Bolton Crown Court in February after pleading guilty to four thefts.

London's Criminal Appeal Court has refused to cut his term, rejecting claims it was "manifestly excessive".

Mr Justice Eady, sitting with Lord Justice May and Mr Justice Hughes, noted Nuttall's persistence, his targeting of victims in vulnerable places and the fact two of the snatches were committed when he was on bail.

The first two occurred within 30 minutes of each other on March 1 last year.

His first victim was an 81-year-old woman, while the second was aged 45.

Last September 25, while on bail for the two snatches, he grabbed the bag of a 74-year-old woman and, on October 1, his victim was a woman in her 70s.

When he was sentenced, the judge said the victims were vulnerable and one was left with bruising and trauma.

The court heard at the time that Nuttall, a former haulage company manager, stole the pensioners' handbags to fund his £150 a day heroin habit which started after he progressed from smoking cannabis.

He had been highly regarded at his work but had been made redundant.