A PENSIONER woke to find two men in her bedroom last night claiming to be security guards in a bogus official-style burglary.

Police have labelled the men ‘depraved’ and ‘without morals’ for breaking into the flat of the 76-year-old lady and pretending to be working with the police.

The two men forced open a ground floor window to the premises in the Burnley Road area of Huncoat, at 8pm and told the startled lady that they were helping officers who had arrested a man outside with a large amount of money.

In fact, it was just a ‘despicable’ scam to get the elderly woman to show them where she kept her valuables.

They left, but their behaviour caused the victim to tell a neighbour and police were called.

Detective Sergeant Paul Langley, of Accrington CID, said: “This is a very callous crime where a vulnerable lady has been targeted by depraved individuals who have no morals about their actions.

“Fortunately this is a very rare occurrence for someone to be awoken by intruders in their house.

"The victim has lost what is to her a significant amount of money and we are taking this offence seriously and I will endeavour to find those responsible for this despicable crime.”

The men are described as white, possibly in their 30s, 5’5” tall, skinny build wearing dark or green clothing. One of the males was wearing a woollen hat.

Police also want to hear from anyone who saw a suspicious vehicle in the area at the time.

It followed another distraction burglary at 5.30pm on the same day at Gloucester Avenue, Accrington, whi-ch is not being linked by police at this time.

It prompted police to renew warnings about residents asking for identification from unexpected visitors.

A 72-year-old man was approached by a man and asked to check his water supply in the kitchen whilst two accomplices stole £30 cash from the front room.

The first man is described as white, ni his early 20s, slim build and 5’7” tall, wearing a sandy coloured hat and he spoke with a local accent.

The other two were white, scruffy looking teenagers.