A DANGEROUS predator of old and vulnerable people has been jailed for nine years for robbing an 84-year-old Bradford woman at knifepoint.

Shaun Jordan drew the cleaver-type blade after sticking his foot in the door of his victim’s bungalow and demanding money, Bradford Crown Court heard today.

Jordon, 25, of no fixed address, fled with £70 from the address in Woodside after the plucky pensioner fought him off by grabbing his hood and scratching him.

DNA from under her fingernails led the police to Jordan who was on prison licence and had served long jail sentences for a string of distraction burglaries and a robbery of elderly people.

Jordan, who confessed to the police he had gone out with a knife to target a vulnerable person, had 19 previous convictions for 36 offences.

Prosecutor Michael Smith said he had served lengthy sentences from crown courts in Bradford, Lincoln and Maidstone for burgling and stealing from the elderly. He would plunder their money and property after pretending he needed to use the phone or the toilet.

In 2009, he was locked up for burgling a 95-year-old woman in her home in Canterbury, Bradford, making off with her £700 savings.

Jordan was back before the city’s crown court in 2015 when he was jailed for five years after tricking his way into the home of a woman aged 91 in Thornton and stealing her handbag.

He next burgled and stole from an 85-year-old man in Maidstone and was on licence for that offence when he committed the Bradford robbery.

Mr Smith said Jordan’s latest victim was left unnerved and feeling insecure in her home after the defendant jumped over her garden fence and forced his way into her property on December 5 last year. She stayed with relatives for five weeks afterwards, fearing he would return.

Andrew Petterson, Jordan’s barrister, said he did not act violently when the pensioner bravely resisted him, telling her: “I am not going to hurt you. I want your money.”

Jordan had never caused any of his victims’ serious harm, Mr Petterson said, adding: “He doesn’t have a propensity to use or threaten force.”

But Judge Jonathan Rose labelled Jordan a dangerous offender, saying he had “an utterly, utterly dreadful” record for distraction burglary and theft from elderly and vulnerable people.

“You have made a conscious decision to live your life on the wrong side of the law,” the judge said.

Before forcing his way into the pensioner’s home, Jordan tried to get into the home of a couple in their seventies who lived nearby.

“You stood on their doorstep with a knife in your pocket,” Judge Rose said.

Jordan then targeted the “indomitable, brave, courageous and stoic” 84-year-old woman, using a knife to try to threaten, frighten and intimidate her.

He met his match when she fought him off, leading to the DNA match under her fingernail.

“What sort of man can target people of that age who are entitled to live in peace and security?” Judge Rose asked.

Jordan’s persistent cowardly targeting of the elderly and vulnerable made him a public danger, the judge ruled.

He was given a four-year extended prison licence period.