A "Jekyll and Hyde" drug addict who broke an 82-year-old woman's hip during a spate of attacks on vulnerable people in Oxford was beginning a five-year jail sentence on Friday.

Ian Sleight, 41, targeted people who could not fight back, snatching handbags and purses over eight desperate days in June, Oxford Crown Court heard.

In one robbery, he knocked shopper Audrey Parry, 82, to the ground in Cuckoo Lane, Headington, on June 16.

She had to undergo a hip replacement operation and will need to use two walking sticks for the rest of her life.

In other attacks, he grabbed a purse from a 12-year-old girl in Barns Road, Cowley, on June 14 as she walked to a fair, and he stole a wallet from 79-year-old Harold Goldenfeldt on June 20 in Latimer Road, Headington.

Sleight, a heroin and crack cocaine user, also tried to steal a handbag from Dorothy Munday, 83, in London Road, Headington, on June 22. An 80-year-old woman, who was standing next to her, was knocked against a wall in the incident, the court heard. He admitted two robberies, grievous bodily harm, attempted robbery, and theft.

He asked for four offences to be taken into consideration.

The other offences included an attempted robbery of a 76-year-old woman at a Barns Road bus stop on June 15 and theft of a shopping bag from a 76-year-old woman on Blackbird Leys bridge on June 14.

Det Insp Vince Gilio, of Oxford police, described Sleight as a Jekyll and Hyde character who was transformed by his craving for hard drugs. He had not previously been a violent offender.

He said: "I would describe him as a rather pathetic character who, due to his extreme drug addiction, had a Mr Hyde side to him.

"That lasted for a relatively short period of time, but nevertheless during that period he committed some quite horrendous offences."

Jonathan Coode, defending, said an unhappy childhood and 25 years of addiction had led to Sleight's "desperate acts".

He said Sleight, of Stuart Street, Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, was "the saddest of loners", weighing only eight stone on arrest because of drug-use and ill-health through muscular dystrophy and hepatitis C.

He said: "We had a joke in conference that he was Sleight by name and slight by nature. That is, no doubt, why he picked on people even weaker than himself." Sleight was homeless and lived under Blackbird Leys bridge, occasionally sleeping at an address in Headington. He read out a statement, which said he was ashamed and wished he could "turn the clock back".

Judge Guy Hungerford said the crimes were revolting.

He said: "You will appreciate the disgust which people feel when the most vulnerable people in society are preyed upon by criminals. When you are 82 and are pushed over and break your hip, your life is altered in a way that can't be repaired."

After the hearing, Det Insp Gilio said he was pleased with the sentence, which was less than Sleight might have received had he denied the charges and forced his victims to give evidence. He will be eligible to apply for parole after two-and-a-half years