POLICE last night condemned thieves who robbed a gravely-ill pensioner in his home.

Two bogus officials, posing as water company workers, conned their way into the 78-year-old's Darlington house and escaped with almost £800.

Last night, the pensioner was too upset to comment, but his angry grand-daughter said: "I am absolutely sick about what has happened. They have to be desperate to do something like this."

Alison Knight, who is also her grandfather's carer, added: "My granddad has a brain tumour and is very ill. Both him and my grandmother are really shaken up.

"I had just got them two weeks worth of pension and they had savings and money to pay bills. It is so distressing for them."

The heartless con is the latest in a string of bogus official burglaries in the region over the past few weeks.

In Darlington since March 26, more than £8,500 has been stolen from elderly people's homes and in one raid £7,000 was taken.

The latest incident comes after a 103-year-old Darlington woman had £100 stolen from her purse last week by a man posing as a window cleaner.

In North Yorkshire, there has also been a number of unrelated bogus window cleaners preying on elderly people and the police.

In the year to March 2001, there were almost 600 similar incidents reported to police in County Durham, Cleveland and Northumbria.

A spokesman for Darlington Borough Council condemned the latest theft and issued a warning to pensioners.

He said: "This was a despicable act. We would urge people not to let anyone into the home unless they have seen ID."

Darlington Police said there had been six bogus official callers in the town in the past two weeks. A spokesman said: "The thieves have no conscience.

"They are single minded, they have no thought for the people they deceive, or the misery they leave behind them.