KETCHUP CONMAN DOES PORRIDGE
Thief distracts victims with fake blood & robs them
A THIEF dubbed the Ketchup Crook robbed his victims after squirting them with tomato sauce so they thought they were bleeding.
Titus Jalea, 64, was jailed for 30 months after using the bizarre distraction to steal cash and bank books. He was caught by a selfie.
A THIEF dubbed the “Ketchup Crook” stole from old people – after squirting them with tomato sauce.
Titus Jalea, 64, used the bizarre ruse to fleece OAPs in their 80s and 90s out of cash and bank books.
He squirted sauce on the pensioners when they were not looking, then told them they were bleeding.
While they checked themselves for injuries, Jalea raided their purses, handbags and wallets.
He made off with one victim’s bank book after approaching him at a bus station and telling him he was bleeding.
Jalea followed an 89-yearold woman home from the bank and stole £500 from her on her own doorstep.
And he swiped £100 from a
92-year-old woman as she did her weekly shop.
Romanian Jalea fleeced eight pensioners over two months in Blackburn and
Accrington, Lancs.
He was caught when bystander Paul Barton spotted him eyeing potential victims at a food festival in
Accrington in June. Daniel Prowse, prosecuting, told Preston Crown Court Mr Barton tricked Jalea into posing for a selfie. He showed the photo to police who recognised Jalea as the suspected “Ketchup Crook” and arrested him.
The former bricklayer was jailed for two-and-ahalf years after admitting seven thefts and one attempted theft. Judge Heather Lloyd told him his offences were “quite deliberate and mean”.
Jalea faces being extradited to Romania to serve his sentence there.