An elderly woman was pushed to the floor and left with a broken arm after bogus callers struck at homes in the Braintree area, stealing hundreds of pounds.

In the first incident, a male with black curly hair and a grey jumper called at a house in Braintree Road, Halstead, at 2pm on Friday.

He told the elderly male occupant of the house he had just mended some roof tiles.

When the pensioner took out his wallet, the man snatched it and made off.

Braintree police are linking this to a similar incident which took place in Church Street, Bocking, 20 minutes later.

The female occupant allowed a man into her kitchen after he said he had done some work to her roof tiles.

When inside, he snatched her handbag and ran off.

At 3.15pm the same day, a man called at a property in Dunmow Road, Takeley, and told the female occupant, who suffers from Alzheimer's, he had just mended some roof tiles.

The woman invited the man in to talk to her bedridden husband and, when her husband got his money out, the bogus caller grabbed all of it, about £200, pushing the woman over and causing the man to fall out of bed.

The woman, in her 80s, suffered a broken arm in the fall and both of them were taken to Princess Alexandra Hospital, Harlow.

The bogus caller was described as 6ft tall, about 25 years old, with thick, dark brown curly hair and looked as though his nose had been broken in the past.

He wore a blue sweater and brown trousers.

A spokesperson for Essex Police said there had been more than 20 cases of bogus callers in recent weeks and asked people with information relating to the incidents to contact their local police station.

By Neil Jones

Reporter's e-mail: neil_jones@thisisessex.co.uk

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