Police are advising the elderly to keep a watch for ‘confidence tricksters’, after a 98-year-old was robbed of her Christmas savings in her Holloway home last week.
Blind and partially deaf, Hilda Porter opened the door of her Camden Road flat to a man pretending to be from the water board.
The individual turned out to be a bogus workman and was accompanied by two accomplices that came in shortly after him.
After realising she had been tricked, Mrs Porter called a neighbour, who alerted the police.
In total, the three men took £150 of her savings, as well as £30 in a shopping bag, earrings, perfume and cutlery.
The repetition of such cases in the area raises serious questions over how much is done to protect the elderly, and how safe they feel.
Barbara Rich, 67, who works with elderly in the Caledonian area, said: “I’m conscious about all kinds of vulnerability the elderly have.”
“It’s a terrible thing for someone who has the independence in their own home, for it to come to an end either because of an actual attack or an intrusion.”
Speaking about her own experience, she said, “I’ve travelled all over the world, been to some quite unsavoury places, yet the only time I’ve ever been mugged is on my own doorstep in Islington on a Sunday afternoon.”
“I was shocked because it was unanticipated and I didn’t think of myself as being in a dangerous place at a dangerous time.”
Police have advised elderly people to always put a chain or bar on the door in case someone forces their way in.
The attack on Mrs Porter comes just a few months after two con artists were jailed for performing similar crimes: Edward James Rodmell, 39, and Marilane Guardascione, 24, were sentenced to a total of 15 years after committing a total of 26 offences between November 2013 and February 2014
They stole a total of £2,076 in cash and over £5,000 in handbags and jewellery. Four of these burglaries happened in Islington.
Police are still searching for the three men involved in the Holloway burglary and have asked anybody that has information to call 101.
