This is stranger than fiction.

You expect elderly citizens to be calm, and law-abiding. This story most certainly flies in the face of that stereotype. Police in Poland have recently arrested an 80-year-old con woman who lured in a string of elderly men, drugged them, and then robbed them. The octogenarian, known only as Janina M, used the lonely hearts adverts in her local newspaper to stalk her victims. She would then use a drug known as lorazepam, from the benzodiazepine group that is primarily used to treat anxiety but is also prescribed to insomniacs because it induces sleep in those who take it. A regional court in Brzesko, southern Poland, heard how she then stole 8,000 zloty, the equivalent of €1,800, in jewellery, electronics and cash from a 78-year-old man who unwittingly invited her into his home. A source at the BBC told them that the elderly woman was described as being “a nice old lady at first glance-slim, with carefully applied make-up and a pretty haircut.” The district prosecutor, Andrzej Lesniak, shared the shocked sentiment that has sent the Polish town into a tizzy, saying: “I’d never have imagined this lady was capable of doing something like this, nor that she’s 80.” Evidence collected by local police suggests that the woman used the same technique to rob a string of lonely pensioners. The woman, known as the "predatory pensioner", has nine previous convictions for theft and fraud. She has denied these charges but if found guilty she faces up to 20 years behind bars.