A 23-YEAR-OLD man who defrauded a Haydock pensioner after pretending he had done work on his house has been put behind bars.

Police have welcomed the sentence of Henry Gaskin, of Lands End Road, Doncaster, who was imprisoned for a period of 12 months and also given a 10- year restraining order at Liverpool Crown Court on Wednesday, October 31.

Gaskin was sentenced after he had pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation.

This followed an incident in Haydock on Thursday, September 20 when Gaskin, joined by an accomplice, knocked on the house door of a 70-year-old man.

The pair claimed they had completed work on the man’s house, before taking him to the bank to withdraw a large amount of cash to pay for the “work”.

Detective Constable Ryan Leahey said: “It was the bank clerk who contacted police in this instance, when she questioned the gentleman about the withdrawal of such a large sum of money. It was their quick thinking that allowed us to apprehend Gaskin at the scene.

“This re-iterates how important it is for us all to look out for elderly or vulnerable members of our community – without this clerk acting on her suspicions and contacting the police, this offender would not have been apprehended so quickly and this gentleman would have lost this money and we’d like to thank the clerk for their actions.

“I hope his sentence sends out a message to others who may be tempted to take advantage of more vulnerable members of our society.”