A "DESPICABLE" serial burglar who targeted old people in the Barnsley area has been jailed for seven years.
It is the second time that Christopher Hepple, 35, has received a lengthy jail term for preying on the vulnerable and elderly.
He dressed up in a high visibility yellow jacket, work trousers and carried a clipboard and identification tag around his neck claiming he was from the Gas Board.
Once inside the pensioners' homes he took the opportunity to rifle through their belongings and steal whatever he could.
His victims were aged from 73 to 91 and lived alone.
Hepple, of Dixon Crescent, Balby, Doncaster, was jailed for five years at Sheffield Crown Court in 2008 for ten similar distraction burglaries.
Andrew Smith, defending, said Hepple accepted what he had done and pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.
Judge Paul Watson told Hepple: "Offences of this kind can only be described as despicable. Society requires that the elderly are protected from people like you. You plainly did not learn your lesson last time."
