A doctor has issued a warning to his patients after a thief conned his way into a woman's home claiming he was a hospital worker.

The 88-year-old victim, who doesn't want to be named, was at her home in Leigh when the man knocked on her door claiming to be doing a home health check.

He persuaded the woman to let him into her lounge and asked for a cup of tea, but left soon after she went to the kitchen. She later noticed her purse with £40 in it was missing.

Her doctor, Harish Doshi, said: "It worries me this man was pretending to be from the hospital."

The man is described as white, aged from 25 to 35 with short spiky hair and is polite and well spoken.

Published Thursday, January 9, 2003

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