A NOTORIOUS purse dipper dabbed his eyes as an elderly library volunteer whose bag he took implored him to “break this vicious cycle” of offending.

Simon Ambler’s record of 51 convictions for 133 offences was labelled 'appalling' by a Swindon judge.

The 41-year-old was back in the dock on Friday, having pleaded guilty to another five purse thefts and the attempted theft of an elderly woman’s bag in Sainsbury’s.

Judge Peter Crabtree put-off sentencing Ambler until November 29, ordering that a mental health report was written.

Prosecuting, Mark Ashley said Ambler’s latest offences were all committed over a 20-day period between August 2 and 22, resulting in the thief being recalled to prison on licence.

He targeted elderly women in the West Swindon library or as they shopped in Wilko, Sainsbury’s and Aldi stores across Swindon.

One woman had her bag lifted as she volunteered in the library at the Link Centre. The handbag, taken as helped-out with the Swindon Summer Reading Challenge aimed at encouraging youngsters to read, had contained her keys, mobile phone and diary – as well as cash.

In a victim personal statement, read to the court by the woman, she said the theft had left her scared, devastated and facing unplanned expenses like the cost of changing locks.

She called for Ambler to get the help he needed: “I have worked with troubled, damaged people and I am keen for them to get the help they need. The best outcome of all this would be breaking this vicious cycle.”

Ambler was brought to tears by the woman’s testimony. After taking instructions, his barrister Grace Flynn said: “He wishes to say he’s very sorry.”

Another victim, 84, whose purse containing £100 in notes was taken as she shopped in the Brunel Centre Sainsbury’s, wrote in her statement that she had started shaking and crying when she realised her bag had been rifled through.

“I just felt lost,” she said.

Judge Crabtree adjourned the matter to the end of November, ordering mental health reports that might give a better idea of how to break the pattern of offending Ambler found himself in.

However, he warned the defendant that the starting point was a substantial prison sentence. He said of the man’s previous convictions: “It’s quite an appalling record of acquisitive offending no doubt linked to drug use over a number of years.”