POLICE are hunting a con woman after a spate of thefts from the elderly.

Detective Constable Ian Proctor said officers were linking three incidents in Great Harwood and Whalley on October 16 and in Ribchester three days later.

The thief, believed to be a white woman in her 20s, plump and well dressed, struck in Lower Fold, Great Harwood, in Whittam Crescent, Whalley, and in Stoney Gate Lane, Ribchester in the evening.

All three victims, who were their late 70s or early 80s. The woman knocked at front doors, said her car had broken down and she needed water for the radiator.

She grabbed cash and credit cards from their handbags.

On Tuesday October 16, between 7 and 7.10pm at the home of a 78-year-old woman in Whittam Crescent, Whalley, when a heavily-built woman, with "tree trunk-like" legs asked for water.

A car was seen on the stree with its bonnet up and a young man in the driver's seat wearing a baseball cap. On Thursday ,October 18, an 80-year-old woman had her purse containing £170 in cash stolen when two women called at her home in Pine Grove, Clitheroe, between 3.15 and 4pm.

The first woman said she was collecting clothes for charity, while the other woman stole the purse from a handbag.

She was white, in her 50s and around 5ft 2in with fair hair, and wore a red coat.

Her accomplice was around 5ft 5in, in her 20's, of slim build with mousy-coloured hair and wearing a light-coloured coat. She is thought to have a small scar next to one of her eyes.

Both women had Irish accents.

Two other incidents at Clayton-le-Moors are also regarded as similar but not connected .

The first was on Friday, October 19, at 3pm in Lower Barnes Street, when a man barged past a 87-year-old woman through her open door, looked around her living room and left without taking anything.

The pensioner heard someone in her back yard and when she opened the door, the man said there was "something wrong with her drainpipes."

He was 5ft5in tall, white, stocky build with a beer belly and aged 30 to 40.

The second incident was in Willow Close when a white 6ft tall male in his 20s, and of slim to medium build, walked into the house of a 89-year-old woman through the unlocked front door. He stole her purse and left.

Anyone with information should call Great Harwood CID on 01254 353341, Clitheroe police on 01200 443344 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.