A SEX worker who barged her way into an 86-year-old’s home and filched his phone and £50 from his wallet has been jailed.

A county court injunction made last year bans Beverley Lewis, 32, from contacting the Walcot pensioner. It was claimed she had repeatedly stolen from him.

In spite of that court ban, she went to the man’s Somerville Road flat in November and pushed the door with such force she broke the security latch. When she was asked to leave she refused, telling him she would go later. While her victim was in another room she stole his mobile and cash.

Swindon Crown Court heard Lewis had a history of targeting vulnerable old men.

In 2015 she was jailed for 20 months after she plundered £10,500 from a 68-year-old’s account. She took the OAP to the bank so he could withdraw sums of up to £1,100 at a time. He told suspicious bank staff it was to go on holiday with his carer and so he could buy her a dog. The man later confessed to police he gave Lewis cash “for looking after and pay for sexual services”.

Three years later she was back before the courts after she took another pensioner’s bank card, claiming she wanted to pay some money into his account. Instead, she drained his account of £2,000.

Prosecutor Colin Meeke said: “Given her pattern of offending it’s quite clear the victim in this case was deliberately targeted by her.”

Lewis, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to burglary, three counts of shoplifting and failing to surrender to the magistrates’ court.

Tony Bignall, defending, asked the judge to spare his client a spell behind bars and give her a community order instead.

He said: “It may well be the shove she needs to stop this foolish offending because otherwise it’s going to be a revolving door until finally drugs and prostitution take their inevitable toll and she becomes yet another sad and dry statistic.”

The solicitor said Lewis had struggled with addiction for much of her life. “At the age of 32 she is facing a dangerous crossroads. She could get herself back on track. She’s incentivised and keen not to go back to her former ways."

Lewis had used her spell behind bars constructively. She had a prison job and was supporting her cellmate, who had written a letter to the judge.

The woman's mother had also written to the court in an effort to explain why her daughter had turned to crime.

Lewis' mother was happy to have her daughter back at home, the court heard.

Recorder William Mousley QC said Lewis had committed the shop thefts while on bail and had not engaged with the probation after being released from prison last year.

“In recent times you’ve said you are motivated to change. The difficulty is it’s recent. It’s very recent. And your failure to engage with the probation service rather casts some doubt as to how motivated you are to do that,” the judge said.

“Drug rehabilitation certainly is what you need or may need to support you in beating your longstanding addiction and the misery that’s caused not only for you but the misery that’s resulted for so many other people as a result of how you have behaved.”

He jailed her for 18 months and ordered a three year restraining order banning her from contacting the burglary victim.