A CONMAN has stolen thousands of pounds from elderly residents.

A number of residents in Leigh have handed over cash to a man for block paving cleaning which was never done.

One of the residents, aged 80, who did not want to be named for safety reasons, said: “My husband died a year ago today and used to sort out all the jobs like that, including cleaning the driveway.

“This is my first year trying to deal with everything so I was interested when this man knocked on my door one evening just before Christmas saying he could have the job done by Christmas.

“He reassured me by telling me he was already doing my neighbours’ driveways.

“I let him into my home and he started writing my name and address down.”

The fraudster then ordered the woman to pay a deposit and half of the £270 he had quoted for the job.

The woman refused and said she only had £50 so he tried to convince her to go to the cashpoint but she again declined and he said he would be back.

Beginning to worry about the situation, the woman contacted her neighbour who the conman had said he was also working for.

The woman explained: “I had never spoken to these neighbours before, but they told me they had been approached by the same man and that he said he was working somewhere else and that it seemed feasible.

“He then told me he would go over there tomorrow to see if he could see him working. He went over there the next day and said he saw a man jet washing the path so it looked as if it was okay.

“My son then also said it sounded feasible, so I said I would go ahead.”

When the man was next at the victim’s home, she handed over the rest of the cash, totalling £270 after the man claimed he needed the money to pay his hotel bills.

However the man never returned and has become unreachable on both mobile numbers he had provided.

Several other victims have since come forward, citing similar experiences.

Police have been contacted and given a name for the man.

Officers are investigating the claims against the individual concerned.