A PENSIONER had a stroke after the stress of being conned out of £3,000 by a career criminal.

'Nasty' Michael Alcorn, of Nelson Street, Accrington, targeted 76-year-old Malcolm Windle after carrying out minor repair on his roof.

Despite being paid the agreed £300 for the job, Alcorn then repeatedly called at the pensioner's Nelson home demanding more money.

He would send the pensioner to a cashpoint in a taxi to get him money. Over three months Mr Windle handed over £3,000.

Weeks after the incident, Mr Windle suffered a stroke — and he believes the stress of the crime was the cause.

Before Mr Windle was living independently, but now he has been forced to moved into sheltered accommodation as he bids to recover from slurred speech and frailty.

Alcorn, 45, described by a 'career criminal who only stops when he’s in prison', was jailed for three years and nine months in 2000 for an almost identical crime on a 83-year-old former headteacher in Burnley in which he obtained £9,000.

This time he was jailed for a total of three years.

Alcorn admitted four charges of fraud related to Mr Windle’s case between July and September 2009 and was given 21 months by Judge Jonathan Gibson.

He was also sentenced to a further 15 months consecutive for a similar fraud charge, admitted in an earlier hearing at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court.

According to police, he reportedly sneaked maggots into an elderly woman’s house and then used them as an excuse to carry out work on her loft.

Mr Windle said he held Alcorn responsible for his ill health.

He said: “All the stress of what happened brought it on I am sure.

“He never threatened me, but was quite forceful and kept coming back asking for more. Not once did he come into the building society with me. He’d always wait outside.

"I'm happy to see him locked up.

"He is the lowest of the low."

Mr Windle's close friend Mick Brennan said: “He has got the justice he deserves. I believe that it caused his stroke and he hasn’t been able to return to his house."

Detective Constable Sajid Mahmood, of Accrington CID, branded Alcorn a ‘nasty’ operator and a ‘career criminal who only stops when he’s in prison’.

On Alcorn, DC Mahmood said: “He is well known for targeting elderly and vulnerable people with similar scams."