Conman caught on doorbell camera before robbing elderly victim
Some of his recent targets - who are now aged between 64 and 99 - were in sheltered housing and retirement complexes when Markward talked his way in.The court heard he duped people by claiming to be an electrician, a student nurse and a council worker.In one case he pretended to be a handyman called Stevie and made off with a purse containing £350.On another occasion Markham claimed he was a friend of a 94-year-old woman's neighbour who had died.He asked to use the toilet after she invited him before making off with her purse. On 24 March 2023 he entered five properties at a sheltered housing complex in Ayr.The court heard he told one woman he was a carer for her mother and claimed to a man that he was a student nurse.Markward later assaulted an employee who challenged him. He also committed frauds and thefts in Prestwick.
Robert Markward's history of crimes
Robert Markward has accumulated a total of 37 convictions since 1986.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 he persuaded a 75-year-old woman he was a friend of her son's.He then stole some jewellery and a purse containing £120 and bracelets belonging to her grandchildren.Markward was released early again but was jailed for 10 years in 2016, after he targeted the elderly in Clydebank.The serial thief, who was released early in 2022, told the trial that the crimes against elderly people were sickening and insisted he definitely did not commit them.A charge of stealing a purse in Prestwick on 27 March was not proven.Markward will return to the court for sentencing on 12 August.
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