A thief from Letchworth who targeted elderly women in Hitchin, leaving one of his victims in hospital, has been jailed.

Judge Graham Arran yesterday sentenced Gary Moran, 42, of Western Way in Letchworth, to four years behind bars after he admitted attempted robbery, theft and fraud at St Albans Crown Court.

Kelly Sach, 29, of Newlands in Letchworth, also pleaded guilty to fraud – relating to the use of a bank card stolen from one of the victims – and was sentenced to two months in prison.

The two bag-snatchings happened within 15 minutes in the afternoon of Wednesday, May 31.

In West Alley, near Hitchin Arcade and behind the High Street branch of Barclays Bank, Moran approached a woman in her 70s, grabbed her handbag and violently tried to pull it from her.

She fell to the ground during the struggle, prompting Moran to run out of the alley to a waiting car, which sped off. The victim was left with cuts to her face and eyebrow, as well as hand and leg injuries.

Minutes later, in Maxwell’s Path – about half a mile away – Moran snuck up behind a woman in her 60s who was walking alongside her bicycle and stole her bag off the handlebars.

Later that day, he and Sach used a bank card stolen from the second victim to make a purchase in Luton.

The pair were arrested by detectives the next day following a public appeal, and charged a day after that.

Moran admitted attempted robbery, theft and fraud at St Albans Crown Court on July 7. Sach pleaded guilty to fraud and not guilty to attempted robbery and theft.