A PAIR of distraction burglars who preyed on more than a dozen elderly residents during a string of raids carried out on the same day - have been jailed.

John Cawley and Michael Ward were sentenced to seven years and four years in prison respectively for their part in a series of burglaries carried out by a gang of thieves at 15 houses across Essex, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.

The men, who posed as water company staff to try to fool their victims, started by unsuccessfully trying to raid the house of an 87-year-old dementia patient in Loughton on the morning of April 24.

Cawley, 32, of Rottersley Road, Harlesden, was traced after police caught his Shogun car on a numberplate recognition camera in Epping High Street as he headed towards Harlow.

Ward, 27, of Clinton Avenue, Manchester, was caught on CCTV trying to steal from a supermarket safe and was then picked out by one of the burglary victims in an identity parade.

Cawley was convicted of conspiracy to burgle despite pleading not guilty to the offence.

Ward had earlier pleaded guilty to the same charge.