Police search for bogus gas official

A WARNING has gone out after a bogus official conned his way into the house of a Sheffield pensioner and stole her mobile phone.

Police are urging people not to allow strangers into their homes after a man claiming to be from the gas board called late at night at the woman's house on Richmond Road, Handsworth. He told the pensioner there was a leak in the area and he needed to check inside her home.

He was allowed access and began to check all her radiators before leaving.

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A short time later the woman discovered a mobile phone was missing.

The bogus official was white, aged in his mid 40s, approximately 6ft tall, slim and had a bald head.

He was clean shaven, spoke with a local accent and wore a navy blue zip-up anorak. He was carrying an orange box which had wires hanging out of it.

South Yorkshire Police are reminding people to use a door chain if they answer their doors to unexpected callers and to call the companies they claim to be from. Witnesses to the incident at 9.45pm on Wednesday should call PC Todd Woods at the Moss Way Burglary Unit on 0114 2963525.