BUCKHURST HILL: Thieves pose as police to rob wheelchair-bound pensioner (From This Is Local London)

Thieves pose as police to rob wheelchair-bound pensioner in Albert Road, Buckhurst Way area of Buckhurst Hill

8:14am Friday 10th February 2012 in Where I Live By Tom Porter

TWO men posed as police officers to steal cash from an elderly disabled woman.

At about 6.30pm on Wednesday (February 8) the men knocked on the door of the woman, who uses a wheelchair, and said they were officers who had just detained two burglary suspects outside and showed her fake police ID cards.

The woman lives in the vicinity of Albert Road and Buckhurst Way in Buckhurst Hill but police have not released further details to protect her identity.

They asked her to check if any money had been taken from her home but while she was doing so robbed £80 from her handbag.

The two men were white, aged about 30-years-old and about 6ft tall.

Both had short, dark hair and were wearing bomber jackets.

One of the men is described by the victim as being of a ‘chunky’ build.

Inspector Paul Maleary of Essex Police said: "This is an absolutely despicable theft by two men who deliberately preyed on a vulnerable elderly woman who is confined to a wheelchair.

"She was extremely distressed when she later found that the men had taken money from her handbag.

"We want to hear from anyone with information about these two thieves or from anyone who might have seen them hanging about in the area of the crime.

"We also want to warn residents in the area to be vigilant and refuse to allow anyone into their homes unless they have the correct ID.

"These men showed what they claimed were police ID cards but they were nothing like an official warrant card.”

Anyone with information should contact Loughton CID on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

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