DARWEN CID is urging elderly people to be on their guard and not to let anyone they don't know into their homes following the theft of a handbag from an 80-year-old woman's house.

The women on Harwood Street answered her door on Monday evening at 7.45pm. A boy first asked her about a car parked near her house and then asked if he could look for a ball which had gone into her back garden.

The elderly woman gave the boy a torch to look round her garden but no ball was found. He then said his cat had run into her house and he ran up her stairs.

The elderly occupant went upstairs after him but found no cat. After the boy left she discovered that her handbag which had £17 in it, along with other items including her bus pass, had been taken. DC Graeme Simpson of Darwen CID: "The elderly lady was very upset by this and we want old people to be aware that they should not let people they do not know into their homes."

The thief is described as aged 11 or upwards and was white with black hair, gelled back. He wore an unzipped black sports jacket, black trousers and possibly a scarf or a tie.

Anyone with any information is asked to ring Darwen CID on 353841.