A conman on crutches who tricked cash out of hospital workers and taxi drivers was jailed for five years yesterday.

Sneak thief Shaun Herrington, 35, was caught by a security officer as he raced through a Teesside hospital with the crutches under his arm.

He told police he had fleeced WRVS workers at the James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough and University Hospital of North Tees, Stockton, and 17 taxi drivers by asking for change for a £20 note and then fleeing with the cash, said Adrian Dent, prosecuting.

Herrington borrowed the crutches from a friend as a cover to gain sympathy, Mr Dent told Teesside Crown Court.

In March 1999, Herrington was jailed for five-and-a-half years for sneak burglaries of old people who let him into their homes after hearing his sob stories.

He had a record for dishonesty going back 20 years when he was first locked up.

Paul Cleasby, defending, said Herrington did not use violence or a weapon in the latest offences, but he expected a lengthy prison sentence.

Herrington, of Glentworth House, Netherfields, Middlesbrough, was found guilty yesterday of robbing a taxi driver by threats and admitted 18 thefts, all in February. He was jailed for four years plus 433 days recall from his 1999 sentence.