TWO children duped their way into an elderly woman's home and stole money.

The duo struck on Saturday, November 23, at about 4.45pm, at a house in the Aged Miners' Homes in Blackhall, County Durham. Information only just been released by police.

A boy, who said he was 14, knocked at the woman's door and said his sister wanted to visit its 80-year-old occupant.

The girl, aged about ten, sat downstairs and talked to the pensioner while the boy searched her bedroom, taking the woman's handbag containing a large sum of cash.

The boy is described as being thin, with short, fair, straight hair and was wearing a black jumper with vertical ribbing and black trousers.

The girl is described as having brown hair tied in a bun at the back and was wearing a navy baseball cap with a white motif on the front and a navy jacket and trousers.