DNA evidence has helped convict a con artist for a crime she committed just four days after she was released from prison.
Lorraine Kent, aged 44, stole a purse containing £25 from pensioners in Betts Way, Penge, after pretending to have Christmas party tickets to sell and then asking to use their toilet.
On August 9, prosecutor John Gardner told Croydon Crown Court that Kent, of Glebe Road, Warlingham, had a string of similar convictions dating back to her teenage years.
She had been out of prison for four days and was still on licence when she called at the flat on November 26 last year.
Tell-tale DNA marks led to her arrest on June 28 at an address in Poynders Road, Brixton.
Simon Hodgett, mitigating, said Kent was ashamed of what she had done.
He said Kent, who pleaded guilty, had gone to the flats to borrow money from a friend and only knocked on the pensioners' door because he was not in.
Kent was sentenced to 34 months in jail.
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