TWO conmen roofers who asked a pensioner for £4,000 for work worth less than £300, have both been jailed for 15 months.

Stephen Coffey, 25 and Glen Hardingham, 26, persuaded the 69-year-old retired farmer to hand over £2,900 and tried to get a further £1,100 out of him.

But police officers had hidden themselves in his bungalow at St Anne's, Burnley Crown Court heard.

Sentencing the duo, who had turned up in a van signed "Skillforce Roofing," with its owner, Paul Ashworth, Judge Raymond Bennett said they had persuaded the man they were the men to do his roofing work - but all they were doing was taking him for a ride.

Coffey, of Burrel Avenue, and Hardingham, of Keighley Avenue, both Colne, had earlier admitted obtaining £2,900 by deception and attempting to obtain £1,100 by deception. Ashworth, 33, of Bankfield Street, Colne, was found not guilty of the offences on the judge's direction and had been described as the "day labourer".

David Pickup, prosecuting, said the two defendants had turned up soon after two other roofing workers "and chased the first lot off" - one had fallen off the roof and had to go to hospital. The pensioner handed over a £400 cheque, with the payee left blank, after the duo said they needed money for materials.

They dropped him off at a football match and told him they would need £2,500 in two days.

That was handed over but police hid in the bungalow and the defendants and Ashworth were arrested when another £1,100 was asked for.

An architect said the value of the work done, including that by the first two workers, was at the most £300.

Mark Stuart, for Coffey, a father-of-two, said he accepted he would lose his liberty.

He apologised for his involvement and had no convictions for offences of this type.

Anthony Cross, defending Hardingham, said he was not a "professional duper of old people".

He had begun to abuse heroin in late 1997, but had made real efforts to stay clear of offending.

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