A thug who trailed a lone woman home so he could rob her of thousands has failed to convince top judges he was wrongly convicted.

Amran Abdul Naaim, 24, went on the run to Huddersfield after preying on the wealthy victim after she withdrew money from a cash machine.

He was convicted of robbery and fraud in his absence at Kingston Crown Court in December 2014 and jailed for eight and a half years.

After police caught him in Huddersfield six months later, he was handed an extra four months behind bars for absconding.

Naaim, of Blacker Road, Fartown, challenged his convictions this week at London’s Appeal Court.

Mrs Justice McGowan said Naaim and accomplices spotted their wealthy victim taking money out of an ATM

They followed her by car as she travelled home by cab, knocking on her front door when she got inside.

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When she answered the door two gang members stormed inside, assaulting her and grabbing her bank card.

Naaim and his accomplices then plundered her account of £3,000, making 11 separate withdrawals from her account.

Naaim, living in Barking at the time, claimed he was wrongly found guilty and that his sentence was too harsh.

But Mrs Justice McGowan, sitting with two other judges, said there was “an abundance of evidence against him.”

Also dismissing his sentence appeal, she noted that the trial judge had singled him out as a ringleader and he had committed similar crimes in the past.

“We refuse permission to appeal conviction and sentence,” she concluded.