Three men were jailed for stealing an elderly woman’s purse in St Albans before taking money out of her account.

Marian Pascu, 48, of Shrewsbury Road in London, was sentenced to 26 months imprisonment and had his Volvo car seized on Wednesday.

Remus-Florian Turturica, aged 58, and Dumitru Vartan, aged 39, both of Fitch Road in Liverpool, were also each sentenced to seven months imprisonment.

On Thursday March 31, the men watched a 71-year-old woman put in her PIN number at the checkout at Morrsions on Hatfield Road.

They then distracted her in the car park by asking her for directions.

During this time the woman’s purse, containing £100, was stolen from her handbag. Her card was subsequently used to withdraw £290 in cash.

The three men were later stopped by PC Iffie Iqbal because they were acting suspiciously in the area.

Pascu was further charged with a theft from three years ago.

A bank card belonging to a man aged 70 was also recovered from a theft at HSBC bank in Chequer Street.

He was distracted on May 28, 2013 whilst Pascu stole £600 in cash from the man’s bag. HHJ Plumstead commended the arresting officer PC Iqbal.

He said: “He was an alert officer spotting suspicious activity and he used his initiative and discretion wisely, taking trouble to investigate and leading ultimately to the conviction of this organised group.”

PC Iqbal said: “Pascu and his associates deliberately targeted elderly and vulnerable people and stole from them.

"It’s always hard to track down these kind of calculating offenders as they are quick and victims often don’t realise straight away that they have been duped. We have been looking for Pascu since 2013 with enquiries leading us to Luton, London and Coventry. We had an overwhelming amount of evidence which meant the two victims did not have to go to court.

“As well as his custodial sentence, one of Pascu’s assets – his Volvo – has been seized.

"He will no longer be able to use this vehicle to target elderly, vulnerable victims.”