A THIEF who stole from a mother and daughter who were helping to feed the homeless in Newport city centre has been jailed.

Daniel Barrington, 33, of Caerau Road, Newport, swiped Ailsa Morris’ handbag and Rhian Rogers’ mobile phone.

The pair were volunteers working with a charity handing out food to the homeless on the evening of March 10 when the defendant struck.

He pinched the handbag and the £200 Huawei phone that was in a van at a car park near the bus station.

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Prosecutor Margaret Cunningham said Barrington then used a debit card that was in the bag to buy £120 worth of cigarettes from different shops.

Newport Magistrates’ Court was told how mum and daughter then turned detective after they called the bank.

Ms Cunningham said: “They were told one of the transactions had taken place at the Baneswell Express store and they went there to ask if they had CCTV footage of it.

“They took a photo of the CCTV and showed it to the homeless (people) who gave them the name of the defendant and they contacted the police.”

Barrington, who appeared in court via video link from Cardiff Prison, pleaded guilty to two counts of theft and fraud by false representation.

The court was told he has 62 previous convictions for theft and similar offence.

Scott Bowen, mitigating, said his client was homeless and struggling with drug addiction at the time of the offences.

He added: “When he was arrested on March 19, he made full admissions. He has seen the ladies and has apologised to them directly.”

Chair of the magistrates, Lynne Tippett, told Barrington: “The fact you were stealing from people who were helping the community was clearly not a nice thing to do.”

She jailed the defendant for 24 weeks and ordered that he pay his victims £200 each in compensation.