Prolific pickpocket targeted women as old as 90
Sarbanovic faces deportation after completing her sentence
- Published
A prolific pickpocket who preyed on elderly women in charity shops across the Midlands has been jailed.
Prajne Sarbanovic, 31, targeted vulnerable victims aged between 73 and 90 across three counties.
A Derbyshire Police investigation into a string of similar incidents in Swadlincote identified a CCTV image of Sarbanovic as a suspect.
Officers linked her to a vehicle which was later stopped in Coalville, Leicestershire, and the scale of her offending began to emerge.
Searches at the scene of the vehicle stop and her home found her in possession of purses, ID cards, phones, house keys, wallets, purses, bank cards, bus passes and library cards belonging to her victims.
An investigation into her offending with neighbouring forces linked her to crimes across Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Staffordshire.
Crimes were reported in Alfreton, Bakewell, Belper, Buxton, Matlock, Somercotes and Swadlincote, in Derbyshire.
There were also incidents in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Coalville and Oadby, Leicestershire and Lichfield in Staffordshire.
PC Joe Stafford, case officer with Derbyshire Police, said Sarbanovic targeted her victims due to their "advanced age, their trusting nature, and their very character."
Library cards and bus passes were among items recovered from Sarbanovic
He added: “I hope that she has finally understood the effect of her actions on others, who have doubtless felt angry and upset for being the victims of such callous offending.”
At Derby Crown Court on Thursday, Sarbanovic pleaded guilty to 19 offences of theft, fraud by false representation and having possession of another person’s ID without consent, with two more taken into consideration.
Sarbanovic, of Yates Street in Derby, was jailed for two years and eight months and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £228.
Derbyshire Police say she will be subject to deportation from the UK on completion of her prison sentence.
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