A CONWOMAN on crutches who tricked pensioners into giving her money to go to hospital was jailed yesterday.

Kim Hatch, 36, a heroin addict, also stole cash from old people who let her into their homes in Billingham and Stockton.

She persuaded one pensioner to "lend" her money claiming to be related to a neighbour and told another her grandmother had been rushed into hospital, said Richard Parsell, prosecuting at Teesside Crown Court.

He said Hatch approached a widow in Billingham on crutches and with a foot bandaged, asking if she could wait in her house for a neighbour, who was a relative. However, her plan to steal was foiled when the neighbour turned up.

A Stockton pensioner who answered a knock at his door found Hatch on crutches and distressed, saying she had been in an accident and asking for money to get to hospital. He gave her £15 but later found £100 missing from his wallet.

Hatch later told police she had used it to buy cocaine and heroin.

Mr Parsell said she was jailed for 21 months in Leeds in October 2001 for almost identical offences.

Robert Terry, defending, said Hatch had led a blameless life until she was 30 when she became involved with a drug addict.

Hatch, of Hall Grove, Leeds, was jailed for four years and two months, including six moths left from her last sentence, after admitting eight burglaries, one attempted burglary, and three charges of obtaining money by deception.