THREE elderly Radcliffe pensioners have fallen victim to a baby faced trickster over the weekend.

While the the incidents are being investigated separately, detectives have revealed the description of the young thief is similar on each attack.

In the first incident on Friday afternoon (Feb 4), a young boy, aged 12-14 years, called at the James Street home of a 85-year-old man and claimed his football was in her back garden. While his victim was distracted he searched the living room and then fled. Police are still trying to establish if anything has been stolen.

The youngster is further described as white, 5ft tall, slim and wearing a blue jacket, jeans and trainers.

On Saturday (Feb 5), a youth answering the description and wearing similarly coloured clothing, stole £120 cash after conning his way into the Shakespeare Avenue home of a 69-year-old woman. Asking if he could wait inside to escape from a gang of pursuing youths, the youngster asked for a glass of milk and grabbed the purse while the lady was in the kitchen.

The following day at 2.30pm a boy aged approximately 14 years, slim with short brown hair and who had a local accent, tricked his way into a house in Alma Street, also in Radcliffe.

The boy told his 74-year-old female victim he was a neighbours's nephew and also asked for a glass of milk. The youngster left quickly when he was caught in the living room of the house. Again, it has not yet been established if anything has been stolen.

Detective Sergeant Dave Maguire of Bury's Crime Management Unit, said: "We have no definite evidence that the incidents are linked but the offender in each case is similar in description and we are looking into the matters,

"In the meantime, we would like to hear from anyone who may have seen a youngster hanging around the target homes."

Whitefield CID can be contacted on 0161 856 8150.

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