DOOR-TO-DOOR thieves have reached a callous new low - by targeting a frail, blind 91-year-old war veteran, it was revealed today.

World War Two soldier Edwin is now too scared to show his face, too scared to reveal his full name and too scared to answer the door of his home in Shadsworth Road, Blackburn.

He is the latest victim of thieves who prey on the elderly and vulnerable by touring the town on pension day.

"It's like a milk round for them. They have no respect and I wish somebody would catch them," he said.

"When you get old, people don't want you except to take advantage of you. I was taken in. Now my son has put a chain on my door and told me not to answer it to anybody," he added.

Edwin was making his lunch when two thieves called at his home on Thursday, claiming they needed to check his electricity. "They said they had been next door and there was a problem. One of them said they would put it right for a tenner.

"Silly me, instead of saying no I agreed and gave them my wallet so they could take £10 out."

The men escaped with £50 in cash and Edwin's pension book.

He added: "We are pestered by bogus workmen all the time. They keep coming back every Thursday, like it is a milk round. I am sure they just do the rounds on pension day."

Edwin has lived in Blackburn all his life and worked as a weaver before retiring. He has lived on his own since his wife died in 1991.

He added: "I was married for 65 years and I want to keep my independence. People who do this kind of thing should be stopped."

A spokesman for Blackburn CID said: "This was a terrible crime and a sign of how low thieves will stoop.

"We are desperate to trace the people and if anyone knows their identity I appeal to them to contact us."

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