Three men who conned lonely pensioners out of thousands of pounds for bogus roof repairs have been jailed for a total of 20 years.

The trio tricked eight pensioners across four counties, including people living in Beaconsfield, Chalfont St Giles and Chalfont St Peter.

In one case they made a man pay out £43,000 for repairs which did not need doing and changed his will so one of the conmen would receive half his estate upon his death.

Tony Williams, 40, of Alan Way, Slough, was jailed for five years and three months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.

His two accomplices, 20-year-old Billysam Doe of Foxborough Close, Slough, and 24-year-old Dax Wharf, of Laleham Road, Shepperton, denied the offence but were found guilty by jurors.

Doe was jailed for seven years at St Albans Crown Court yesterday while Wharf – who was also convicted of an offence of blackmail – was caged for eight years.

Their victims were mostly over the age of 70 and lived alone, police said.

Their crimes came to light after Hertfordshire Police’s specialist investigation team from Operation Manhunt – which targets distraction burglaries and frauds against the elderly – were contacted by a man in his late 80s who said the cost of roof repairs to his home had escalated to £20,000. A surveyor later examined the work and said it was valued at just £200.

From there, more of their crimes came to light.

Police said the men would offer to do the work for vastly inflated prices and as time went on they would demand more money, often using pressure tactics, threaten the victims and offer to take them to the bank to withdraw more money.

As well as the offences committed in Bucks, the men conned victims living in Potters Bar, Berkhamsted, Lower Earley, Bicester and Walton-on-Thames.

DS Jon Leak from Operation Manhunt said: "These men purposely targeted older people. Initially they would convince them that work needed to be done to their properties, but would pressurise the victim into giving them more money.

“When the victims said they couldn’t get hold of the cash they would offer to drive them to the bank and would wait outside until the victim had handed the money over. We know that some of these victims handed over the money just to get rid of the men.

“It wasn’t until we started looking into Williams’ finances that we saw that large cheques had been paid into his account, through which we were able to uncover further victims, some of who didn’t realise they had been conned.

“I am sure the victims and their families will be pleased with this result today, as are we. However it is a sad fact that criminals like these will be operating across the country day to day and I would use this as an opportunity to advise people never to agree to work offered at your doorstep. If you believe work does need doing then seek a second opinion and obtain at least three quotes before proceeding with having the work done.”