A prolific pickpocket who drove around the region looking for pensioners to steal from has been jailed.

Helen Kiely’s crime spree stretched from Macclesfield to Ashton-Under-Lyne . An 80-year-old woman recovering a stroke was among the victims targeted as they shopped in supermarkets.

Kiely, 43, formerly of Sarnesfield Close, Gorton, has now been locked up for 30 months after admitting theft and fraud. Manchester Crown Court heard that on April 14 she stole from two women shopping at Sainsbury’s in Denton, and one woman shopping at Asda in Ashton, whose account was drained of £1,885 after her card was stolen.

On April 15 she pinched a purse from a trolley pushed by a 62-year-old woman customer at Asda, Warren Street, Stockport. The woman lost just £7 - and recovered irreplaceable pictures of her grandchildren when the purse was found in a bin.

But the following day Kiely returned to the shop, stealing a purse containing £140, a £25 giftcard and bank cards from a 69-year-old woman - leaving her unable to feed herself that day.

The next day Kiely struck outside Aldi in Gorton - but returned the purse when the woman victim confronted her in ‘no uncertain terms’.

Undeterred, she returned to Tesco in Ashton on April 23 and stole a handbag from yet another female shopper. She was detained by staff leaving the store and arrested.

While on bail on April 29, she stole a purse from an 80-year-old stroke victim, whose account was rinsed of £685. Kiely was arrested and bailed again, only to steal a purse from a woman shopping at Tesco in Macclefield.

Prosecutor Simon Nicol said: “The various complainants describe themselves as shaken and upset, stressed by the loss of their purse or handbag and a number of them feel that it has significantly affected their confidence going shopping.”

Kiely was subject to a community order at the time of the spree, after being tasered by police following a 2013 mass brawl outside a Longsight pub where families fought with weapons including a hammer, a sword, a scythe, cricket bats and baseball bats.

Philip Barnes, defending, said the most recent offences had happened when Kiely’s life - which has been marred by drug and drink problems - was in a ‘maelstrom of chaos’, but she was now sober and resolved to change.

Sentencing, Recorder Philip Cattan told her: “You preyed upon the elderly - the public must be protected from you.”