A British judge has sentenced a fraudster to three and a half years in jail after he tricked an elderly woman into paying him for a fake coronavirus vaccine jab.

Crown court judge Hannah Finch described 33-year-old David Chambers's actions as “shameful and despicable”, according to AFP.

Chambers knocked on the victim's door in Surbiton, west London, on December 30, 2020, claiming to work for the state-run National Health Service (NHS), according to police.

The woman let him into her home, where he jabbed her in the arm with a “dart-like implement” before asking her to pay £140, which he said would be refunded by the NHS.

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