Cold caller

But during the robberies, the 30-year-old left traces of evidence which helped police pin the crimes to him.

The attacks have been life-changing for these devastated victims, says Poole Detective Constable John Carlow, who worked on the case as part of the Operation Taxus team.

"They've suffered nightmares and had panic alarms installed in their homes," he says.

"One lady has thrown everything out that the suspect touched. Another man has moved to Australia.

"In these cases, the victims were elderly, sometimes they were disabled and the offences happened in their own homes late at night.

"There was physical harm inflicted on all of them, and I think it doesn't come much more severe than that."

Johnson, of Belben Road, Poole, thought nothing of bursting into pensioners' houses under cover of darkness and forcing them into chairs while he stole their property.

The first robbery happened at 9.10pm on December 3, at the home of ex-RAF officer Winston Shaw, 79, and his wife June.

"There was a knock at the door and Mr Shaw opened the door and he burst straight in," said DS Guy Shimmons, the officer in the case.

"Mr Shaw, who at the time was undergoing treatment for cancer, bravely tried to apprehend him. He wrestled with him, but obviously wasn't strong enough.

"Mr Shaw had him in a headlock at one point - it was superb to see such good old fighting spirit. I think Johnson realised he wasn't going to get very far there, so he cut his losses, grabbed a jacket from the hallway, and left."

Mr Shaw was left bruised and sore after the attack, but his brave tussle with Johnson gave his wife the opportunity to get a good look at the robber, who she was later able to identify to the police.

With little to show for the first robbery, Johnson struck again less than half-a-mile away, this time at the home of 82-year-old Richard Forkgen, who had problems getting round due to a bad back and who was home alone because his wife was in a nursing home.

Mr Forkgen was expecting a neighbour to call and instead opened the door to Johnson, who dragged him though the house, pushed him into a chair and frisked him, taking £450 including his pension money and winter heating allowance from his back pocket.

"To have that stolen is potentially life-threatening for an old man in the middle of winter," said DC Carlow.

It was the body-search that linked him to the crime.

Scientists at the Forensic Science Service found traces of DNA on Mr Forkgen's back trouser pocket which placed Johnson at the scene of the robbery.

After the robbery, Mr Forkgen could not even afford to replace the trousers that were taken for DNA testing, so the police bought him a new pair.

But until the match was made, Johnson was still at large, and later that month he carried out another robbery. At 11.30pm on December 21, he went to the home of terminally ill Hazel Kinninmont, 74, this time sneaking in though the window she had left open because of the heat generated by her nebuliser.

He dragged her into the lounge and pushed her into a chair before ransacking the room and making off with a small amount of cash and her credit card.

Thankfully, Mrs Kinninmont had hit her panic alarm when he attacked. He bolted before the police arrived, but left a footprint in her garden in his haste to get away.

When police raided his home on Christmas Eve, they found muddy boots belonging to him, which matched the print in Mrs Kinninmont's garden.

To be doubly sure they had the right man, they sent the boots to Kenneth Pye, a forensic scientist who specialised in geology.

DS Shimmons said: "Mr Pye said there was mud on the boots that had come from the lady's garden.

"Between the footprint and that together, it was enough to say he had definitely been involved in the burglary."

But the forensic identification took time, and although Johnson knew the police were closing in on him after they seized his boots, he struck once more.

At 8.40pm on the night of January 24, 59-year-old widow Theresa Hitchings opened her front door to Johnson after seeing the figure of a man outside, trying her lock.

She recognised him as being a relative of her neighbour - he said he wanted to use the telephone, but she told him that if he came into the house, she would call the police and shut the door on him.

Later that evening, Johnson and another man returned and started banging on the door and, when she opened it, he pushed her backwards towards her lounge and stole her handbag.

She later picked him out from police photographs, prompting the police to hunt for him.

They found him hiding in his airing cupboard, but didn't believe his excuse that he was looking for something there and arrested him.

First published: August 14