JAILED: Crook who conned people out of hundreds of pounds for cancer charity and spent it all on drugs

Serial fraudster David Armson, who has nine previous convictions for similar crimes, went door to door saying he was collecting sponsorship for Cancer Research's Great Christmas Pudding Race.

Families donated up to £8 each but the 25-year-old addict spent all the cash on drugs.

The father-of-one knocked on doors in Gough Road, Coseley, on September 14 - and at one house he thought was empty, he smashed a pane of glass and tried to break in.

Mr Nick Wadsworth, prosecuting at Wolverhampton Crown Court, said one resident caught Armson spying through the letter box to check if a house was empty.

And when he did not get an immediate response from another property, he smashed a pane of glass in the front door and had his arm through the hole to break in when the occupant appeared in the hall to answer the bell, continued the prosecutor. Armson ran off and was chased by the resident, who took a picture of the fleeing burglar on their phone.

Police called to the scene recognised Armson in the photograph and arrested him less than a month later on October 7.

When they went to arrest him, officers smelt burning from inside his flat and discovered the remains of a charity sponsorship form in a bin. More forms filled with details of more than 100 sponsors were found soon afterwards.

Mr David Wallace, defending, said: "The most anybody paid was £8 and the average was about £4, meaning the total sum involved in this fraud was around £400. It was small and pathetic and not a high level means of maintaining the drug habit it was meant to feed."

Armson of Dimmocks Avenue, Coseley, who had a total of 24 previous convictions involving 128 offences, pleaded guilty to burglary, fraud and going equipped for fraud and was jailed for a total of 24 months.

Judge Robin Onions told him: "This is serious offending and the 10th time you have committed this type of crime. You go house to house collecting money that you purport is for charity but keeping it for yourself.

"This trades on the goodwill of people prepared to give money for a worthwhile cause since many have been touched by the scourge of cancer."