A 'fragile and vulnerable' man pretended to be a policeman doing a drugs search in a pub toilet during a spree of offending.

Callum Foster, 20, of Ashford Road, Corsham, was wearing an earpiece when he told a drinker in a Swindon pub he was an undercover cop carrying out random checks.

In the following months he fleeced his mum Sarah Foster out of more than £15,000 and burgled a family friend's home in Kington Langley, driving off in their brand new £32,000 Audi A5 soft top to Cornwall.

When the car was stopped by police, who needed to use a stinger device, he was found to have an array of knives and other weapons.

He also threatened a 16-year-old girl with a knife when she refused to model lingerie for him, a judge at Swindon Crown Court was told, and was later convicted of assault by magistrates.

But after hearing he is a vulnerable young man who has not been in trouble before Recorder Ed Burgess QC imposed a suspended sentence.

Kirsty Real, prosecuting, said Foster was in The Brunel pub last April when he claimed to be carrying out the drugs search, fleeing when asked for a warrant card.

Between June and mid July he managed to access his mum Sarah Foster's bank accounts and took £15,705.08.

In July he tried to persuade the schoolgirl to model underwear for him and produced a flick knife when she refused he threatened to stab her.

Just over a week later postal workers intercepted a package containing an illegal butterfly knife sent from Blade City in America addressed to the defendant.

He was due to appear before magistrates in October but failed to attend and then in December he burgled a house of friends in Kington Langley.

After breaking in he drove off in the brand new Audi A5 soft top, which he was in when he was stopped days later on the A30 having been spotted on the M5.

In the car as well as a torch and gloves he had lock pickers and a variety of knives in his pockets and in the vehicle as well as two martial arts throwing devices.

When he was questioned he said he could recall little but thought he had been to Cornwall to buy drugs and collected the weapons from friends there.

Foster admitted burglary, aggravated taken without consent, possessing knives, importing prohibited items, fraud, going equipped to steal, failing to surrender to custody, driving without insurance and possessing a small amount of cannabis.

He denied common assault in relation to the teenage girl he asked to pose but was convicted by magistrates after a trial.

Nicola Talbot-Hadley, defending, said that her client was very keen to engage in the services being offered to him and complete drug rehabilitation.

She said he had been suffering from depression and was under the influence of class A drugs at the time.

"This is actually a very fragile and vulnerable young man," she told the court adding a time in custody would not help him.

Passing sentence the judge said he was at a crossroads in his life and needed 'specialist care and support'.

He imposed a 24 month jail term suspended for two years with a drug rehabilitation requirement and 30 days of rehabilitation activity requirement.