A 38-year-old man has admitted robbing an elderly woman and her daughter in York on Mothering Sunday.

Scott Nevison will receive a long prison sentence for his crimes,The Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst, said.

Nevison, of Moore Avenue in Osbaldwick, admitted a string of offences including falsely imprisoning the older woman on Sunday, March 30.

Police launched a major manhunt for Scott Nevison within hours of him forcing his way into the pensioner's home in the Layerthorpe area when her daughter was with her. His violence towards them left both traumatised.

After taking their cash, he continued to commit crimes including breaking into other people's houses and managed to evade officers for more than a week before he was arrested and charged.

Until yesterday, he was denying that he was the person responsible for the robberies that shocked York.

Judge Ashurst told him: "You have pleaded guilty to a number of very serious offences today, which will inevitably attract a long prison sentence, as you well know."

In March, Detective Inspector Andrea Kell of York CID described the Mothering Sunday robberies as "an appalling crime" and called on the public to help them track down the robber so he could be arrested "as a matter of urgency".

North Yorkshire Police set up a dedicated team to catch him and carried out a series of searches, some with police dogs, and made door to door enquiries in the area.

They issued a CCTV image of a man at the cash machines near Asda's Layerthorpe store who officers said they wanted to interview in connection with the robberies. They also arrested a suspect on March 30 before releasing him on bail.

On April 9, ten days after the robberies, Nevison appeared before York magistrates. They remanded him in custody and sent him to York Crown Court where his first appearance was on April 22. He has since appeared on other occasions.

Yesterday, Nevison, 38, pleaded guilty to three Mothering Sunday crimes: two of robbery, one committed against the pensioner and one committed against her daughter and one of false imprisonment.

In addition to the offences against the mother and her daughter, Nevison admitted burgling a house in Stockton Lane between March 19 and March 25 when he stole electrical items and cash; burgling a house in Rawdon Avenue, Tang Hall, on March 31 and stealing purses and foreign currency and attempting to burgle a house on Constantine Avenue, Tang Hall, on April 6.

He was remanded in custody until Thursday when he is expected to be sentenced.