A COUPLE went out looking for old ladies to rob after they had spent up on a Mothers' Union holiday, a court was told.

Stewart Murgatroyd, 28, mugged three pensioners - two in one day - and helped himself to an elderly lady's handbag as she snoozed on a cemetery bench.

His partner, Dawn Hughes, 26, a mother-of-eight, including four-week-old twins, left her children with babysitters while she acted as the getaway driver, Burnley Crown Court was told.

Murgatroyd was jailed for two-and-a-half years, after Judge Raymond Bennett said what he had done was "dreadful." The judge, who added the couple had preyed on elderly women, said although it was "painful," he couldn't find exceptional circumstances to suspend a prison term for Hughes.

Sending her to jail for 12 months, the judge said when she was out committing crime, she hadn't been looking after her children.

Murgatroyd, of Disraeli Street, Burnley, admitted three robberies and four thefts, and Hughes, of Albion Street, Padiham, pleaded guilty to two robberies and theft. Jeremy Grout-Smith, prosecuting, said a 78-year-old woman was asleep on a bench when Murgatroyd crept up and pulled her handbag from her, last September. She later received a bank statement, saying £300 had been withdrawn.

Murgatroyd's next victim was 75 and walking along Queen's Road, Accrington. He pounced before getting into a car. A witness noted the registration number and passed it to police.

The victim was extremely upset and shocked and suffered a painful shoulder. Murgatroyd then targeted two women, one 68, the other 83, on the same day, taking their bags and leaving one with a painful finger.

The next day, police went to the couple's home and recovered three handbags and a piece of paper, on which somebody had been practising a victim's signature.

Mark Stuart, for Murgatroyd, said he was upset and ashamed over his actions and couldn't understand why he behaved in that way. Murgatroyd and Hughes, who had seven children together, had received an almost free holiday from the Mothers' Union and when they returned they had spent everything they had. They had no food, gas or electricity and went out committing the offences. The defendant lost his job a few weeks before the holiday.

John Woodward, defending Hughes, said she bitterly regretted what she had done. She had a child from a previous relationship, and now had eight children aged ten and under.

At the time of the offences, a psychiatrist said Hughes had been suffering a clinically significant depression.

Mr Woodward added: "The defendant is very fond of her children and they have come to no harm."

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