BURGLARS posing as water and electricity workers conned three pensioners in doorstep scams.

A man claiming he needed to bleed water tanks knocked on the door of an elderly woman’s home in Marlborough Place, Eynsham, at 8.45am on Friday.

She tried to telephone her niece, but the man stopped her.

When she spotted a second man at the front door she demanded they left. Nothing was stolen.

At about 10.30am the same day, a burglar opened the back door to a house in St Thomas Road, Deddington, claiming to be fitting pipes to the house next door.

He told the woman, aged in her 80s, to turn on all the taps before another man arrived and said he had to go and check upstairs.

When they left she discovered an antique pistol, First World War medals and £60 cash had been stolen.

Then at about 1pm on Saturday, a man knocked on the door of an elderly woman’s home in Newton Way, Benson, claiming to be from an electricity company. He said she had been overcharged and that he was there to refund her some money.

The woman went to her bedroom to get some money as change and when she returned discovered about £400 had been stolen.

Dc Jane May appealed to anyone who saw two white men, in either Eynsham, Benson or Deddington, on Friday or Saturday acting suspiciously to contact police immediately on 08458 505505 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.