A HOMELESS heroin addict was at a low point in his life when he got into an elderly woman’s car and demanded money, a court was told.

Glen Robert Vickers followed the 73-year-old churchgoer from a cash machine, where she withdrew £50, to her Honda Jazz, parked outside Asda, in Byron Place, Seaham, on October 16, 2016.

Durham Crown Court heard that he told her to give him the money, but, she told him to get out, and he walked off, empty-handed.

The defendant was subsequently arrested after a fingerprint lift was taken from the inside door handle.

Vickers, 44, now of North Bridge Street, Sunderland, denied attempted theft, but was convicted after a trial heard in his absence by magistrates, last month.

He was arrested on a warrant, having failed to turn up for sentence at crown court.

Jane Waugh, mitigating, said Vickers was at the depths of fortunes at the time, homeless, hooked on heroin and reduced to begging.

Recorder Ian Atherton passed a six-month prison sentence, suspended for a year, with 15 Probation-supervised sessions.