A CONMAN who persuaded a kind-hearted couple that he was a solicitor raided a bank account and stole their £27,000 life savings.

Dominic Birkitt spent the cash on gambling and meals out, leaving the couple more than £2,000 overdrawn at the bank.

At Bolton Crown Court 48-year-old Birkitt was jailed for 28 months after admitting theft.

Colin Buckle, prosecuting, told how the couple, aged 63 and 61, fell victim to Birkitt and his lies after meeting him in the Old Three Crowns pub on Deansgate, just yards from the Crown Court building, towards the end of last year.

He concocted a story that he was a solicitor who had been staying at the Holiday Inn and claimed that he had lost his accommodation after a dispute over parking charges.

The couple took pity on him and offered him a place to stay at their town centre home.

The court heard how Birkitt would help with housekeeping at the property and paperwork and contacted the husband's insurance company in order to help him claim a £19,000 early redemption of his pension.

Believing Birkitt was a lawyer, they let him handle their financial affairs and even when they noticed their bank balance had reduced to £12,000 and then £500, they trusted him.

He claimed that, for tax reasons, his solicitors' firm was using the cash and he would be putting it back.

The couple eventually saw through his lies when they went to the Nat West Bank and were horrified to find their account was £2,500 overdrawn.

Birkitt, who has no previous convictions and has no legal qualification, was arrested and pleaded guilty to stealing £27,150.

Kimberley Morton, defending, said he was remorseful.

But Judge Graeme Smith told him his regret cannot make up to the couple for the loss they have suffered and the fact that they are now having to rely on the wife's disability benefits for income.

"They are, quite simply, facing a completely different future to the one before they met you," said Judge Smith.

He added that the couple had placed a high degree of trust in Birkitt.

"You preyed on their vulnerability. They are now in debt without prospect of their circumstances changing," he said.