Welwyn Garden City woman tricked into buying £50k watches

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-29829545

Version 0 of 1.

A 90-year-old woman was conned into buying two watches worth nearly £50,000 in London by a man claiming to be a police officer.

The pensioner, from Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire, received calls from the man on 23 September.

He convinced her to take a taxi to buy electrical goods in the town before travelling to Selfridges in London to purchase the watches.

CCTV pictures of men police want to speak to have been released.

Bogus officer

A Hertfordshire Police spokesman said the bogus officer convinced the woman to book a taxi at her own expense and she travelled on her own to buy a mobile phone, iPad and Playstation in Welwyn Garden City before the vehicle took her 23 miles to London.

She bought two gold Audemars Piguet watches from the Oxford Street store, one valued at nearly £40,000 and the other at about £10,000.

All the items, which have not yet been recovered, were handed over to a man outside the store who identified himself as a police officer.

The victim has compiled an e-fit image of this man who is described as being between 25 and 30 years old.

Officers said the taxi driver has been traced and is not under suspicion.

The CCTV images of two men come from a convenience store in Midland Road, Bedford, where it is thought credit was added to a phone used in the scam.

Det Con Mark Cotte said: "The two men pictured are believed to have been in the store around the time the phone was topped up.

"We would like to speak with them as they may be able to assist our investigation."