CONMEN have fleeced a trusting pensioner out of thousands of pounds after promising to do gardening and building work at his home.

The gang, described by the police as despicable, tricked the 86-year-old out of the money in their scheme spread out over several days earlier this month.

Detectives are appealing for anyone else in the man's neighbourhood to contact them if they have had similar visits in the past few weeks.

The fraud began on September 3, when a smartly-dressed man wearing a suit called at the home of the pensioner, who lives alone, in the village of Fencehouses, near Chester-le-Street.

The caller was touting for gardening work and the man agreed to pay £250 to have his overgrown garden cleared.

Over the next few days, a small amount of work was done on the garden, carried out by the caller and two accomplices.

But on the third day, they negotiated with the pensioner to block pave the front and back of his property.

Although police have declined to reveal the exact amount he was quoted for the job, it did run into several thousand pounds.

The conmen asked for the money upfront and, over the next two days, the man made separate trips to his bank to withdraw the cash, which he handed over.

Over the next few days, the man started to have doubts about what was going on and asked a neighbour for help, who in turn contacted the police.

The trio who conned the Fencehouses pensioner were aged from their late teens to early 50s.

Detective Constable Alex Simms, of Durham Police, said: "We urgently need any details such as vehicle registrations, contact telephone numbers or further descriptions of these men.

"They and their kind are despicable, as they deliberately seek out and target those who are most vulnerable."

Anyone with information can ring Chester-le-Street CID on 0845-60-60-365 or Crimestoppers, on 0800-555-11.

The Northern Echo launched its Doorstoppers campaign in 2003 to crack down on bogus door-to-door callers.