PENSIONERS are being urged to be on guard after bogus officials stole substantial sums of cash from two women.

Two men posing as water company workers preyed on women living alone at Croxdale and at Coxhoe last Thursday afternoon.

They escaped with £600 and a fur coat from a bedroom in the terraced home of an 86-year-old at Croxdale between 1 and 2pm.

A police spokeswoman said: "The woman answered the door to a man who claimed to be from the water board and needed access to taps in her kitchen.

"The woman was unaware as she talked to the man in the kitchen that another man had gone upstairs.''

The pair struck again at a bungalow in Coxhoe between 3.20 and 3.35pm, one of them telling the 84-year-old occupier that he needed to flush blue dye through the water system and check the drains.

While he talked to the woman, his accomplice took a large sum of money - they police are not revealing the figure - from a wardrobe in the bedroom.

Detective Sergeant Tony Dumhigan said: "We would urge people always to ask for identification and be sure callers are who they say they are before they let them into their homes.

"We believe both these burglaries, which left their victims badly shaken, were committed by the same men. The elderly in particular need to be alert to the possibility of bogus officials calling at their door.''

The daughter of the victim at Croxdale said: "I want to warn other people that these people are in the area and picking on the vulnerable.

"They took £600 she had saved up for bills and a fur coat, which is of great sentimental value. She was in a hell of a state, crying her eyes out. The people who do this sort of thing are scum.''

The woman urged other pensioners to always ask for identification - genuine water, gas, electricity and council employees carry ID cards - before letting them in.

Anyone with information about the crimes should call Acting Inspector Phil Atess on (0191) 386 4222