POLICE today stepped up their hunt for two teenage girls who have conned and robbed pensioners across East Lancashire.

A pair - who could be as young as 15 - tricked their way into three pensioners' homes in Blackburn on New Year's Day and stole cash, pension books and bank books.

Police were today examining links between the offences and similar crimes in Burnley and Colne in the run up to Christmas.

Each time the girls struck in Blackburn, they made their escape by saying they were going to their car to get a Christmas card or box of chocolates.

Detective Sergeant Peter Broome of Blackburn CID described the crimes as "utterly despicable".

He said: "It is disgusting to abuse an elderly person's trust in this way to get into their house and steal whatever little they have got.

"Although we have no direct evidence to link these crimes with those committed elsewhere in East Lancashire there are obvious similarities and we will be liaising with police in other areas."

The girls' first victim in Blackburn was an 86-year-old woman in the Queen's Park area. They pretended to be relatives of the woman and asked for a cup of tea. One of the girls kept her chatting while the other searched upstairs before stealing a pension book and an Abbey National pass book from the lounge.

About an hour later, they and a stole purse containing £60 from the 83-year-old woman in the Intack area.

Their third victim was an 81-year-old man from Brownhill. One of them cuddled the man, removing his wallet at the same time.

Cash, a pension book and bank book worth £117 were taken. The culprits were white, aged 15-18, 5'4" tall, and slim with mousy hair. They were both wearing navy blue jackets when they called at the first two addresses and brown and yellow jackets at the third.

Similar incidents occurred in Peel Gardens and Sutherland Street, Colne, and Waddington Avenue, Burnley, last month.

DS Broome warned: "People who are caught and prosecuted successfully receive stiff sentences and quite rightly so because they are exploiting the most vulnerable section of society."

He said any elderly people should fit a chain to their door and use it every time they answered the door.

If they were in any doubt about the identity of the caller they should not let them in, or call their local police station before doing so.

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