A CONVICTED pickpocket who distracted his victim by throwing mud at her has been imprisoned for a year.

Youcef Gueman targeted a 79-year-old lady as she left Sainsbury's and walked up an alleyway leading from Walters Yard to Bromley High Street.

Gueman threw mud onto the back of her coat and pretended to brush it off as he passed her, claiming something had been thrown out of a window onto her.

Shortly after the September 18 incident last year, the victim realised her purse, containing £250 had been taken out of her handbag.

Following a police investigation, Gueman was arrested and was charged with the offence after the victim picked him out of an identity parade.

The 43-year-old, of New Addington, initially denied the charge, but pled guilty at Bromley Magistrates' Court on January 29.

He was remanded in custody ahead of a hearing at Croydon Crown Court today.

Prosecuting, Caroline Moonan said Susan Close was in Bromley town centre when she felt something on her shoulder.

Miss Moonan said: "She turned around and saw a man who told her that someone had thrown something out of a window, and he started to brush her down.

"She walked off and went to a bus stop and then realised that her purse, containing £250 and various bank cards, had been taken.

"On October 3, in Beckenham High Street, she went to a cash dispenser at LloydsTSB, when she saw the same man watching her.

"He spoke to her and she was scared. She shouted out that he had stolen her wallet and a man chased him but couldn't catch him."

Gueman, however, was arrested about four weeks later on an unrelated matter.

He was picked out by Mrs Close at an identity parade at Lewisham police station.

Gueman, of Lodge Lane, New Addington, was convicted on September 6, 2005, for a robbery of a woman of 85, using similar tactics.

He was released on licence on August 10 last year; it was while this was still in effect that he stole from Mrs Close.

He will now have to serve the rest of the sentence, to July 7, with the new term of 12 months added consecutively.

Judge William Barnett told him: "You selected yet again a vulnerable old lady.

"You learned nothing from what happened to you before.

"If you were desperate for money, there are ways of getting some beside breaking the law and terrorizing elderly people."