A ROBBER who preyed on vulnerable, lone women has been jailed for seven and a half years

In a spate of cowardly attacks, James Lord, pictured, 36, targeted late-night shoppers who he knew could offer little or no resistance when he struck.

The thug pounced on his terrified victims as they came out of local shops and got into their cars, to grab handbags and purses.

Within minutes the man dubbed the "convenience store" robber and his common law wife had raced to other stores in the city and used stolen credit cards for alcohol, cigarettes and cash advances.

A few days before his arrest, the one-man crime wave had resorted to his first knifepoint robbery on the horrified occupants of a car.

Today Lord is behind bars for five attacks but detectives privately believe he was responsible for several others in the city and needed money to fund a heroin habit.

Passing sentence at the city crown court, Judge David Griffiths told Lord: "It is my view that when you are free, you will carry on doing so and it is my overriding duty to protect the public from you."'

The judge added that his use of the knife was a "worrying escalation" in his behaviour.

As he was led away, Lord arrogantly wished jurors "a nice day" and then remarked to his partner in the public gallery the four- to five-year wait for parole was "a piece of cake."

Lord, of Shakespeare Avenue, was convicted of two robberies, two thefts and one of taking a car without consent.

For more details of this story see tonight's Daily Echo.