A serial conman who posed as a nurse, a handyman and an electrician to steal from and defraud elderly victims has been sentenced to nine years in prison.
Robert Markward tricked his way into the homes of nine vulnerable people in Ayrshire between December 2022 and March 2023.
The 64-year-old was found guilty last month of 10 charges, including defrauding and stealing from people and assaulting a housing complex employee.
Judge Lady Ross KC said although the sums of money stolen were not great, the seriousness of the crimes “could not be measured in pounds sterling.”
Speaking at the High Court in Glasgow, Lady Ross said some of the people Markward had stolen from were particularly vulnerable.
She added that Markward had committed “nasty offences”.
The court heard he posed as an electrician to gain access to an 88-year-old woman’s retirement apartment in Ayr. He then stole her purse and bank card.
On another occasion he asked to use the toilet in a 94-year-old woman’s home, having claimed to be a friend of the woman’s recently deceased neighbour.
He then disappeared, and the woman realised her purse had been taken.
After the verdict the jury heard Markward had a string of previous convictions for similar crimes dating back to 1986.
He had accumulated a total of 38 convictions involving 106 charges prior to his most recent trial.
He was jailed for defrauding elderly people in 2002, when he was sentenced to four years in prison at the High Court in Glasgow.
But while on home leave being prepared for parole he struck again.
In 2005 he was jailed for six years, having posed as a priest and a hospice worker in Ayr and Prestwick to carry out crimes of dishonesty.
He was released early on licence but within days he resumed his offending in Ayrshire and Glasgow.
Markward was jailed in 2010 for seven years after stealing from several elderly victims. He told a 75-year-old woman he was a friend of her son’s and persuaded her to give him Sunday lunch.
He then stole a purse containing £120, bank cards and bracelets belonging to her grandchildren.
Markward was released early again but was jailed for 10 years in 2016, after he targeted the elderly victims in Clydebank. He was released early in 2022.
In the latest trial, the serial thief insisted that he definitely did not commit crimes against elderly people.
A charge of stealing a purse in Prestwick on 27 March was not proven.
Adam Stachura, the policy director of charity Age Scotland, previously said Markward’s crimes were “sickening”.
He said: “I think the court has done a very important job in articulating how seriously they take offences of this kind, and hopefully it becomes a deterrent for people thinking of preying on the elderly.
“It’s sickening to think of the number of people caught out by this guy.”
