Dorset Police news site

A man who stole from the homes of elderly women in Bournemouth has been jailed following an investigation by the Neighbourhood Crime Team.

On Thursday 21 November 2024, a man knocked on the door of a bungalow in the Kinson area and stepped inside the property without permission. He told the victim that he could fix her guttering and then asked for a drink.

As the victim went to the kitchen, the man entered the bedroom inside the address and stole a handbag containing bank cards, which were later used to make fraudulent transactions.

A few days later on Monday 25 November 2024, a man spoke to the victim of another address in the Kinson area and told her that he painted her fence a few years ago and it needed doing again.

The man went inside the property and once he had left, the victim noticed her purse was missing. Her bank card was used a short time later to make fraudulent transactions.

A third incident occurred in the Kinson area on Monday 23 December 2024 a man knocked on the door of an address and told the victim that his child had lost his football and believed it had gone into their garden.

When the man left the property, she noticed that her purse containing bank cards had been stolen.

Following an investigation by the Neighbourhood Crime Team, 33-year-old Thomas Harold Coker of Ringwood was arrested and charged.

He pleaded guilty to three counts of burglary and two counts of fraud by false representation and was sentenced at Bournemouth Crown Court on Friday 13 February 2026 to six years in prison.

Police Constable Ted Carlton, of the Neighbourhood Crime Team, said: “Coker targeted vulnerable elderly women and distracted them in order to steal their bank cards from inside their home.

“This terrible behaviour makes victims feel unsafe in their own properties and is absolutely unacceptable.

“I am pleased that through our investigation we were able to identify Coker as the person responsible and hold him to account for his actions.”