AN elderly dementia sufferer was driven to withdraw money by a gang of rogue traders - then abandoned when they realised he had forgotten his bank card.

Details of the heartless actions of three Hartlepool men were revealed when they appeared in court for ripping off two pensioners from Middlesbrough.

On another occasion last summer, the bogus roofers charged an 84-year-old woman £250 for work on the guttering to her home which was never carried out.

Michael Gales, 26, Lee Davidson, 29, and Phillip Orton, 53, hired vans "week after week" to travel around looking for work, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Ian West said they targeted vulnerable people, and the younger two men "used Orton as a commodity" because he had a driving licence.

Gales has previous convictions for mainly motoring offences, while Davidson has carried out similar cons of elderly householders in the past.

Mr West said the 81-year-old man handed over £60 for roofing work which was never done, then driven a mile to Linthorpe Village where he was just left.

A witness who was working on a nearby school saw the three men pull up in the hire van and approach the pensioner's home - and took down the number plate.

He watched as one of the scammers climbed onto the roof and simply sat on the ridge tiles for ten minutes before coming down and ask for his money.

Mr West told Recorder Eric Elliott, QC: "Again not a joy of work was done on the house . . . he was just abandoned there and left to make his own way home."

The judge will sentence the three men this morning after hearing from their defence lawyers. They pleaded guilty to two charges of consumer fraud.

Orton, of Windermere Road, Davidson, of Shelley Grove, and Gales, of Brenda Road, were all remanded in custody last night by Mr Recorder Elliott.

Mr West said: "These two offences, committed a month apart, were committed by the group. They had been hiring vans from the same company week after week.

"The Crown say there is an element of targeting here . . . Orton made admissions in his interview that he had been driving the others around knowing they were up to no good."

Gales was meant to have a pre-sentence report prepared on him after an interview with a probation officer, but he had been so disruptive during a visit that they refused to see him.