A deaf robber who attacked vulnerable old people has been sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Michael Felicien, 35 of no fixed address, targeted people aged between 56 and 84 for money between May 4, and August 12, 2013.

Felicien’s modus operandi was to rob people on buses or follow them from buses into their homes before attacking them.

On May 4, 2013, he followed an 84-year-old man onto a bus after he left a betting shop in Westminster. When the elderly man was outside his home Felicien attacked him and stole his money.

Felicien then attacked a 72-year-old man, on August 5, 2013, after following him from a betting shop in Wandsworth, onto a Route G1 bus, and attempted to make off with cash.

He struck again on August 9 when a 56-year-old man on a Route 29 bus felt Felicien take his wallet out of his pocket.

The man tried to challenge Felicien who attempted to communicate with him in sign language before finally giving the wallet back. The victim got off the bus but Felicien followed him and attacked him, stealing his mobile phone.

Felicien was sentenced at Kingston Crown Court on Thursday, March 20, for robbery and burglary offences in Wandsworth, Brixton, Camden, Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth, and Westminster, following an investigation by the Met's Safer Transport Command (STC).

Descriptions of Felicien, coupled with CCTV images, led officers to identify Felicien, who is deaf and without speech.

They travelled to Islington where Felicien was known to frequent and he was arrested on September 4, 2013.

The court ordered Felicien be sentenced to 11 years imprisonment after pleading guilty to two offences of robbery, one attempted robbery and four of residential burglary.

Chief Superintendent Sultan Taylor, of the safer transport command, said: "This is an excellent result which has seen a prolific offender who targeted the elderly receive a substantial prison sentence.

"If you commit an offence, you will be caught and if convicted every avenue of punishment will be considered - so the message is clear – crime on London's bus system will not be tolerated."