A BIKE bandit who snatched handbags from vulnerable woman has been locked up for a 12-day crime spree.

Daryl Munro, 28, attempted to grab woman’s handbags from their shoulders as he cycled past.

Some of the victims were aged in their 80s, with Munro, of Bull Close, Vange, managing to get away with cash and mobile phones.

He was involved in seven incidents in Basildon between August 7 and 19.

Munro would cycle behind his victim, grab the strap of their bag and attempt to pull it away before fleeing.

The first robbery saw a woman knocked to the ground by the momentum of his bike, while another saw him hide behind a parked car near an alleyway before pushing a woman over.

Munro also targeted a 71-year-old woman in Great Gregorie, snatching her bag which contained a Samsung mobile phone and £210 in cash.

The final incident saw Munro push a 50-year-old woman to the floor before grabbing her bag and running off.

The bag contained a mobile phone, and the next day the phone was sold by Munro at the CEX store in Basildon - with him using his own ID to sell it.

In victim impact statements read to the court, the women told of how Munro’s crimes had left them fearing to walk alone and that the “freedom” they once had has now been taken as they fear for their safety while out walking.

Munro was arrested after being identified through CCTV footage and admitted five robberies, two thefts and one attempted thefts at Basildon Crown Court yesterday.

The court also heard that Munro had burgled a house in Basildon earlier this year on March 18, stealing various items and an Audi A4 parked.

Mitigating, Lucy Sweetland said Munro had been battling a cocaine addiction.

She said: “It was simply to obtain money to feed that addiction. He intended to do so with the minimum contact and minimum force.

“It was not his intention to physically hurt the people that he robbed.”

Judge Ian Graham sentenced Munro, who was already serving a suspended sentence, to four years in prison.