A MAN who swindled pensioners out of more than £1 million of their savings has been locked up.

Moses Mead, 25, of Springhead Road, Northfleet, was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court to four years in prison after admitting eleven counts of fraud by misrepresentation.

At the same hearing, 38-year-old Christopher Latty from Gillingham was sentenced to three years in prison after admitting two counts of fraud by misrepresentation.

The men were arrested in Cambridge by Kent Police on January 14 after tricking elderly and vulnerable people into paying for costly and unnecessary building work at various locations in Kent, London, Hertfordshire and Cambridge between 2007 and 2010.

Mead, the ringleader of the two, would cold call elderly occupants informing them of serious structural faults at their homes.

Many of his victims were tricked into parting with large sums of money for work that was either unnecessary or never completed.

One man in his 60s from Bexleyheath was tricked into handing over a total of £522,000.00.

Detective Constable Paul Walker of Tonbridge CID said: “This was a lengthy and complex investigation that involved the gathering of evidence from across the south east from a large number of elderly and vulnerable victims often in difficult and sensitive conditions.

“Many of the victims have lost their entire life savings and have been denied financial security in their twilight years because of one man's greed.

"Police advice is never let people you don’t know, and are not expecting, into your home.”