A prolific pickpocketer from Dudley, who targeted elderly passengers on public transport, has been jailed for 2 and a half years.

Daniel Glowacki, from Terry Street in Dudley, targeted elderly victims on and around the West Midlands bus network. One of his victims, an 88-year-old woman, was waiting to get off the bus when Glowacki shoved past and put his arm around her in a bid to confuse her while dipping her purse. 

On another occasion, Glowacki pushed into a 74-year-old man as he stood to get off a bus and used the physical contact as a distraction to swipe his wallet. The pensioner’s bank cards were later used in various shops to purchase items and at ATMs. 

Earlier this year, police and National Express launched a national appeal to help find the wanted man. This led to information being received that he was at an address in Dudley and he was arrested on March 16.

CCTV footage on National Express buses provided crucial evidence and clearly showed Glowacki targeting elderly, vulnerable victims. At Wolverhampton Crown Court on 18 April Glowacki admitted eight offences of theft and was jailed for two-and-a-half years. PC Sean Lowe, from Dudley Police, said:

"Glowacki is a callous, prolific offender who targeted the elderly. We hope this sentencing will offer some comfort to the victims who were left shocked by his actions.

"This was a complex investigation involving extensive trawls of CCTV systems to obtain and secure the necessary evidence.”

Tony Dallison, Head of Security at National Express West Midlands, added:

"Our passengers should feel safe on our buses. As this case shows, we work very closely with West Midlands Police and we will not tolerate people stealing from our customers.

"We’d like to thank the Safer Travel Police teams for their hard work in putting a stop to these particularly despicable crimes."