TWO conmen who preyed on the elderly, taking cash for roofing work they did not do, are both behind bars.

Robert Collinge and his accomplice Robert Simpson took more than £600 from a 72-year-old Great Harwood pensioner, leaving her upset, anxious and frightened, Burnley Crown Court heard.

Collinge, 21, who went on to raid the home of an 85-year-old Burnley widower after he went out to collect his pension, was jailed for 30 months. Simpson, 50, who has previously served a 10-year term for a drugs conspiracy, was sent down for two years.

Sentencing, Recorder Michael Querelle told the pair what they had done was reprehensible and mean.

He said: "The elderly people would have been terrified when they considered what might have occurred."

Collinge and Simpson, both of Padiham Road, Burnley, admitted deception and burglary last April. Collinge also pleaded guilty to a further burglary.

Keith Harrison, prosecuting, told the court victim Sheila Hargreaves lived with her brother and sister in Great Harwood. In January 2005 she was visited by two men who convinced her work needed to be done on her roof. She handed over £250.

On April 18, the defendants turned up at her door, said they had just completed the work and asked for £140. That was paid. One then asked to get into her loft to make sure it was watertight and she accompanied him upstairs. The second man stayed in the living room with her 63-year-old sister.

Mr Harrison said Simpson asked the 72-year-old for a cup of tea and she had to go downstairs leaving him in the bedroom.

She now became anxious, upset and frightened. She challenged the other defendant downstairs and he made out a receipt, made her sign it, but did not give her a copy.

The defendants then suddenly rushed from the premises and after they had left, it was found £495 had been stolen from two purses.

The prosecutor said on April 25, the 85-year-old victim, Eddie Woods, came home to find it had been broken into.

Collinge's fingerprints were found in the house.