A GANG of drug addicts who robbed an elderly man of his pension in a "cruel" attack as he walked home from the pub have been jailed.

Retired Derrick Rooke, aged in his 70s, had drawn his £200 pension in Keighley on July 15 last year before then enjoying a night in the town's pubs.

Prosecutor Rebecca Young told Bradford Crown Court that as Mr Rooke, who has since passed away, walked home at around 1.30am the next morning, he was being followed by Claire Beadle, 38, Claudia Gallagher, 43, and Stephen Groves, 45.

CCTV footage showed the trio on Low Street and Hanover Street, hiding behind walls to track their victim's progress.

Miss Young said that Beadle and Gallagher then approached Mr Rooke on a number of occasions to talk to him, which she described as "weighing up his vulnerability."

As he paused for a rest in Keighley bus station, Gallagher distracted him while Beadle searched his coats and trouser pockets.

He managed to carry on walking, at which point the two women grabbed him firmly by his arms.

Miss Young said that despite trying to pull himself away, Mr Rooke fell to the ground.

Both Beadle and Gallagher rifled through his coat until they found his wallet and then fled the scene.

Mr Rooke was helped by a taxi driver who stopped to help him and although uninjured, he realised his wallet had gone.

A security officer alerted police and the three defendants, who were all known to local officers, were identified and arrested.

All three pleaded guilty to robbery, Beadle in advance of a scheduled trial and Gallagher and Groves a few days before the hearing.

James Bourne-Arton, for Beadle, of Oakworth Road, Keighley, said his client, a mother-of-five, had a 20-year addiction to class A drugs.

He said that while in custody awaiting her sentence, she had made progress, and requested a jail term rather than a community order that would be "setting her up to fail."

Tahir Hanif, for Gallagher, of Drill Street, Keighley, said his client had mental health issues and used drugs and alcohol as a "coping mechanism for PTSD."

He said she was "shamed and disgusted" at her behaviour, but had been identified by the probation service as presenting a low risk of re-offending.

Ashok Khullar, for Groves, of Bracken Bank Avenue, Keighley, said his client, who the court heard had drug and alcohol issues and was on an existing community order for theft, was "ashamed" but had only played a "secondary role" in the joint enterprise offence.

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC, said the trio had targeted a "very vulnerable elderly gentleman."

He told them: "You've all been in trouble before, but nothing like this.

"This is a serious matter, you know it, I know it, and the public know it.

"This was a very unpleasant, targeted, deliberate, cruel offence of street robbery.

"The evidence is quite clear that each of you, because of your problems, drink, drugs, you saw him, you needed money, you followed him.

"You were weighing up the opportunities. You accosted him, held him down, and took every penny left of his pension. You left him with no money and nothing to live on."

Gallagher was given a 21-month sentence, with Beadle and Groves both jailed for 19 months.