A MAN and a woman have been jailed for trying to steal from a woman with learning difficulties after meeting her in Queen's Gardens.
Robert Egan, 28, of South End, Leatherhead, and Stacey Lewis, 37, of St James's Road, Croydon, approached the vulnerable 44-year-old woman on June 28.
They engaged her in conversation and escorted her to her bank in George Street, coaching her on the way to withdraw money to give to them.
The pair also told the woman to inform bank staff they were her carers but were overheard by two concerned witnesses who followed the couple to the bank.
The witnesses called police on the way and when officers arrived they found the victim in the process of withdrawing money from her account with Lewis stood next to her and Egan sat nearby.
Both pleaded guilty to attempted theft at Croydon Crown Court on December 8 and were jailed for 18 weeks for the offence. Egan was given an additional day in prison for resisting arrest.
Lewis was given a further 12 weeks imprisonment for breaching a suspended sentence order given to her at South Western Magistrates' Court on April 7 for an assault committed in June 2013.
