A CONFIDENCE trickster swindled a vulnerable pensioner and posed as a police officer.

Christopher David Smith, 18, of Pelaw Road, Chester-le-Street, admitted a string of deceptions at Consett Magistrates Court last week.

He was sentenced to ten months in a young offenders institution.

The court heard how, in six months, the baby-faced crook impersonated a beat bobby, undercover detective, community safety officer and a boy scout as part of his meticulously-planned scams.

Simon Crowder, prosecuting, said: "Throughout this he attempts to gain the confidence of people, including two who were elderly and vulnerable. There is a great deal of planning that appears to go into these offences."

In April, aged 17, Smith posed as a community safety officer to gain the trust of an 87-year-old woman at a farm near Chester-le-Street.

During two visits, he convinced the pensioner to hand over her credit card and write him a £30 cheque. He also stole five blank cheques.

He later tried to use the card to buy a £2,437 Seat Ibiza car from a Chester-le-Street garage and also to hire a limousine, but it was declined both times.

In May, he posed as an undercover CID officer and tried to commandeer a J-registration Ford Escort.

When the victim's mother became suspicious, he left the house in Station Road North, Fencehouses, Tyne and Wear, and came back several hours later, dressed in full police uniform. He then convinced the family to hand over the car, plus its vehicle registration document and MoT certificate.

When police arrested him in the car, they found a disguise kit containing a police-style utility belt complete with handcuffs and radio, plus an eye patch.

On October 5, while on bail for these offences, he posed as a cub scout, calling on a pensioner in Chester-le-Street.

He claimed to be collecting sponsorship money but left when his intended victim became suspicious. The court also heard he had a previous conviction for burglary.

Last December, while working at a fish and chip shop in Chester-le-Street, he had made a copy of the safe key and used it on two occasions to steal thousands of pounds.

Steve Kettlewell, for the defence, said in mitigation that his client was a fantasist with a car obsession, who struggled to make friends and invented tall stories to impress people.

"He has been living in fantasy land," he said. "Something within him seems to trigger so that he cannot just be himself.

"One of the difficulties that he has is low self esteem. He is clearly an intelligent young man, but what he does not have is any confidence."

Smith admitted burglary, three counts of obtaining money or property by deception, failure to surrender to bail and one count of attempting to obtain money by deception.

He asked for six similar offences to be taken into consideration.