A homeless alcoholic who was drinking 10 to 12 bottles of wine a day has been convicted of a series of street robbieries.

Dean Richards, 26, denied the offences, claiming he only made admissions to police because he wanted to get back into prison to sort himself out.

At Canterbury Crown Court he was was convicted of five robberies and one attempted robbery, all committed in the city in February, last year.

Students, a schoolboy and people going home after work were his victims.

Richards had denied the offences, claiming they were committed by others. He was remanded in custody for reports and will be sentenced in March.

Edward Connell, prosecuting, said the first victim was Bryan Adams who was mugged as he walked to his car in Spring Lane on February 7.

His path was blocked by one man while another went behind him and he was punched and his rucksack stolen.

Student Chen Shih Ying was robbed of his MP3 player minutes later having also been punched in the face and knocked to the ground.

Joanna Thompson was walking home along Abbots Barton Walk just after 6pm talking on her phone when she saw two men walking towards her. She was punched in the face and her handbag stolen.

Richards was arrested on February 8 on an unrelated matter and police realised his description matched that of one of the muggers.

He was bailed and on February 9 attacked two students, robbing Mary Tester of a handbag and attempting to rob Aimee Chilcot of her bag in the London Road area.

The final victim was a schoolboy who was hit on the head with a bottle after trying to resist Richards’ attempts to steal his mobile.

Richards in evidence admitted having a number of convictions for offences including assaults, wounding and theft but said he had never robbed anybody to obtain money.

At the time he was drinking 10 to 12 bottles of wine a day, paying for it by either shoplifting or begging.

He described alcohol as like heroin saying it took over his life and said he went downhill but once in prison got himself clean and tidy and back in good health.

He told police he was responsible but told the jury it wasn’t the truth. He said he’d got some details of the robberies from those reponsible, some knowledge from his solicitor and other details he made up.

Richards will be sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court.