TWO young heroin abusers preyed on shoppers in a hand-bag-snatching spree to feed their habit.

David Oxley and Martin Charlotte left a trail of shaken and injured women, one aged 79 and two in their fifties, in neighbouring villages in little more than 15 minutes.

Durham Crown Court heard that the pair were interviewed and released on bail by police the previous day for alleged car theft offences.

But on the morning of April 17 they stole a Vauxhall van, parked outside the owners' home, in Murton, County Durham, intending to go to Scarborough.

On their way Oxley, wearing white socks over his hands, made three attempts to snatch handbags from women shopping in the villages of South Hetton, Easington Lane and Hetton-le-Hole, while Charlotte waited in the van to make a quick getaway.

The pair, from Murton, were caught after a witness passed on details of the van to police.

Both admitted two charges of attempted robbery, and one each of robbery and taking the van without consent.

Charlotte, 20, of Watt Street, was sent to a young offenders' institution for three years and ten months, and Oxley, 19, of Western Terrace North, received a three-and-a-half-year sentence.

A three-year motoring ban was imposed on Charlotte, who also admitted driving while disqualified.

Roger Moore, prosecuting, said all the victims were left highly distressed and with an array of injuries, including bruising, cuts and swellings.

Two managed to hold on to their bags, but Oxley made off with one, possessions from which were found in the van when police stopped it following the third snatch.

Defence barristers for the pair said they became heroin addicts in their teens and both were full of remorse for their actions that morning, particularly on realising the ages of their victims.

Imposing the custodial sentences, the judge, Mr Justice Bennett, told them: "You committed what can only be described as horrifying offences.

"It's a prevalent crime committed on people unable to defend themselves and in the case of these three ladies, who suffered physical injuries, it caused them great shock and upset."

The judge said: "The fact you were addicted to heroin is no mitigation whatsoever."