DETECTIVES are hunting a doorstep con man and his accomplice who tricked their way into the homes of two pensioners by posing as water board engineers.

One man kept an 82-year-old man distracted in the kitchen of his home in Bishop Crescent, South-ampton, on Tuesday afternoon while an accomplice is thought to have sneaked in and taken £200.

The pair are also thought to be responsible for a second incident the same day off Orchard Lane in the city centre where a 96-year-old woman was targeted. This time nothing was taken.

The man who came to the door was described as white, in his mid-20s, with short hair and wearing a beige T-shirt and jeans. His accomplice was also white and aged in his mid-20s.