VILE thieves befriended a man with Down’s Syndrome before stealing his wallet.

Tommy Pilling was shopping with his wife Maryanne, 44, when the two men approached them in the RSPCA charity shop in West Road, Shoebury.

Two men approached Tommy, 57, and shook his hand. It is believed they stole his wallet at the same time.

The theft was the latest of many which has now left the couple, who have only recently celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary, terrified of leaving the house.

Maryanne’s sister Linda Newman, 28, is the couple’s full time carer and said she is disgusted by what has happened.

She said: “You can visibly see the fact that he is disabled and they took advantage of him, Tommy is not able to put up as much of a fight.

“It wasn’t the amount of money that was taken but the principle. They now both feel frightened and don’t want to go out.”

Her appeal for witnesses, posted on Facebook, has now been shared more than 50,000 times.

Mrs Newman said they have received offers of help from all over the world.

She said: “So many people have offered to help us. We have had so many messages, from people offering to replace the wallet to people offering to set up a chaperone service to take them to the shops. People from as far as America and Australia are offering to help. It just shows there are two nasty people in the world but thousands of lovely ones.”

Linda Martin, 65, Tommy’s mother-in-law, says there are no words to describe how she feels.

She said: “There are no morals in people and no care. Words fail me. It’s not just about what they’ve done, but the aftermath. They are both now frightened to step out of their front door. This is the third time something like this has happened; years ago they were both stoned in the street.

“These people are vermin. They befriended him, distracted him and then took his wallet. I am so angry.”

Tanya Clements, a manager at the RSPCA in West Road, Shoebury, said the charity shop has CCTV because they have had so many cases of shoplifting. The CCTV is paid for by the workers themselves.

The footage will be handed over to Essex Police.

The suspects are described as being of Indian or Pakistani appearance, aged 20 to 30, and wearing jeans. One of them was carrying a bag. Enquiries are continuing and police are seeking to identify the suspects and arrest them. Anyone with information which could assist is asked to call Southend Police on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.