Two men have been jailed after a pensioner worked with police to catch those who tried to defraud him.

Yasen Ahmed. 21, of Durham Road, Luton, and Mohammed Hussein, 23, of Roseberry Avenue, London, were jailed for a total of five years after the scam in Richmond earlier this year.

Staff at a bank in Richmond town centre contacted the police after a 77-year-old man asked to withdraw £10,000 from his account on March 26, having made two earlier large withdrawls from his account the same day.

When police arrived, the man said he recieved a phone call from a well known department store the day before, saying his credit card had been used to buy a large amount of goods.

The elderly man put down the phone to call his bank, but the fraudsters stayed on the line and, posing as his bank, told the victim to withdraw money and not tell bank staff why he was doing so.

Police went back to the man's home with him and, while they were there, the man received another call from the fraudsters, who told him to put the money in a box for a courier to collect.

When a taxi driver arrived to collect the box, police got into the car and went to the addres in Warner Street, London.

Hussein was arrested when he leaned into the front passenger window and asked for the package.

His accomplice, Ahmed, ran from police but was caught. Both were taken to Kingston police station and charged with conspiracy to defraud.

Hussein was jailed for three years and Ahmed sentenced to two years in prison on October 10, after being found guilty at a trial at Kingston Crown Court.

The sentence imposed on Hussein also took into account a similar offence in Richmond earlier this year.

Detective Constable Becky Springford, from Kingston CID, said: "This sort of offence is all too common and the victims are usually the elderly or vulnerable. It was only by the bank staff being alert that this man did not loose his savings.

"Thankfully, with the cooperation of their potential victim, police were able to turn the tables on these men.

"This was a despicable crime that tried to steal money from a man who had saved for his old age. In these circumstances the prison sentence is totally justified."