Hong Kong - A serial robber has been jailed for seven and a half years for 16 robberies committed to fuel his heroin addiction, a media report said Saturday.

Ray Lee Wai-yip, 37, targeted women in the thefts which netted 87,000 Hong Kong dollars (11,150 dollars) and five of the victims were over 70 and two were aged more than 80, the South China Morning Post said.

Sentencing Lee, deputy judge Peter Longley said he had been jailed twice in the past 10 years for robbery offences.

"The experience of prison did not make you better yourself," the judge told Lee. He added the letters Lee had written expressing remorse for the latest crimes were "worthless." (dpa)