POLICE are hunting a conman who tricked his way into a pensioner's home and stole a wallet containing £2,500.

The 76-year-old wheelchair-bound victim had just arrived back from a stroke rehabilitation class at the Age Concern headquarters in the Mansion House at Victoria Park when the man called at her home in Dorothy Street, Thatto Heath, at about 4.40pm on Wednesday, March 5.

The woman's husband answered the door to a man carrying a sports bag who spoke to him by name and asked how his wife was. Thinking he was from Age Concern, the pensioner invited him in and took him through to the living room, leaving him alone while he helped his wife to the bathroom. He then went into the kitchen and got the visitor a can of beer which the man put into his pocket before leaving and driving off in a large white car.

Later on the woman discovered that a wallet containing £2,500 had been stolen from a handbag in the living room.

The conman was white, 30 to 40 years of age, between 5ft 10ins and 6ft tall, with a plump face and short black, slightly curly hair and a thick moustache. He spoke with a Liverpool accent and was wearing a dark-coloured, three-quarter-length jacket.

DS Tommy Wright from St Helens Police told the Star: "This man has deliberately targeted a vulnerable member of the community. He saw that she was in a wheelchair and showed no regard for her welfare, or any regard for his actions which can only be described as despicable."

IF you have any information on the incident, contact DC Keith Hynes at St Helens police station on 0151 777 6053 or ring Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

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