A FAGIN-LIKE crook who used children to rob elderly and vulnerable victims in Basingstoke was jailed last year for more than five years.

Joseph Toohey travelled from London with two young boys to carry out distraction burglaries, during which the boys pretended they were collecting sponsorship money.

Their victims included a deaf and dumb couple who lost about £160 in the burglary and are now so afraid for their safety they want to move.

One of the other victims, a pensioner, moved into her son's house after the burglary because she was so afraid, and she told The Gazette she now finds it difficult to sleep at night.

"They looked like choirboys, they were so angelic," she said. "They were about 10 years old."

"They took my bank book with my funeral money in it. I just don't understand how they could have done it."

Toohey was eventually brought to justice by the actions of civilian detention officer Kevin Hack, who spotted a burglary going on, chased Toohey and then restrained him until the police arrived.

At Winchester Crown Court on Wednesday, Judge Keith Cutler said Mr Hack should receive a reward of £250.

Adam Feest, prosecuting, had earlier told the judge how the burglaries occurred in March this year, with the culprits specifically targeting vulnerable elderly people.

Two of the burglaries occurred in Townsend Close, Basingstoke, one at the home of a 67-year-old woman and the other at the home of an 82-year-old woman. In each case the boys knocked at the door, asking for sponsorship for a school run.

In the first case, the victim later found £50 had been taken as well as some jewellery, including three rings, one being her mother's engagement ring.

In the second incident, the woman kindly offered to tape the boys' torn sponsorship form and then tore a piece of paper out of a notebook and completely rewrote the form for them.

While she was doing this, she lost property, including a gold watch, and her purse was emptied of cash.

The gang then moved onto nearby Bolton Crescent and knocked at the door of a deaf and dumb couple.

It was after this offence that they were spotted by a neighbour and Mr Hack, hearing the hue and cry, tackled Toohey.

The two boys ran off, and caught a train back to London.

Toohey, of Prince of Wales Road, Kentish Town, London, pleaded guilty to the three burglaries and to assault with intent to resist arrest, for which he received a total of five-and-a-half years.

The judge said Toohey had trained the two young boys to commit the offences.

The victims had been elderly and disabled and therefore particularly vulnerable.

They felt their homes had been violated and were considerably upset and distressed, said the judge.