TWO Romanian pickpockets have been jailed for a botched attempt at stealing from an elderly woman.

Anton Nonu and Marios Sirbu targeted Peggy Hammond, 86, after watching her withdraw £600 from Nationwide building society in Colchester.

They followed her as she travelled along Culver Street West and into Debenhams on her mobility scooter.

The bungling thieves then took an envelope containing pictures of Mrs Hammond’s grandchildren instead.

Nonu, 40, and Sirbu, 36, were spotted on CCTV and were arrested.

When they appeared at Colchester Magistrates’ Court, they were each jailed for 12 weeks to warn foreign crime gangs away from Colchester.

District Judge David Cooper said: “We don’t want the word getting around Colchester is an easy place to steal property and you don’t get punished.

“You have been in this country a short time, but you have already targeted an 86-year-old lady and stolen from her.

“These were items of sentimental value.

“It is necessary for a deterrent sentence so word goes back on the grapevine there will be severe punishment if they come to Colchester.”

The court heard Nonu, who had only lived in the UK for nine days, approached Mrs Hammond on Wednesday and started a conversation to distract her by placing a sheet of paper in front of her eyes.

Sirbu, who has been in the country for a month and has a wife and daughter in the Czech Republic, reached into her scooter and took what he believed to be an envelope containing the money. After leaving the store the men realised they had inadvertently taken photographs featuring Mrs Hammond’s grand-daughter.

Having been spotted on the store CCTV, the men were apprehended and arrested.

Both admitted stealing from Mrs Hammond when they appeared at Colchester Magistrates’ Court.

They spoke through a translator who stood in the dock with them.

The court heard they lived in London with several other foreign nationals, who have come to England looking for work.

They said they had come to Colchester to collect scrap metal to exchange for money and their crime was opportunistic.

Nonu, who told the court he has three children and a wife back in Romania, wept as the sentence was passed.