A MAN has been charged with a string of offences in Colchester.

Unemployed Scott Butcher, 29, of no fixed address, is charged with attempted robbery at News Plus in Military Road, on April 25 and the theft of a woman’s handbag in Magdalen Street on the same day.

He is also charged with robbing a woman of her purse in The Centre, on Severalls Business Park, on April 21 and the theft of a bank card from a home in Greenstead on April 19.

Butcher entered no pleas when he appeared at Colchester Magistrates' Court on Thursday.

He will appear next at Ipswich Crown Court on May 26.