A HEARTLESS fraudster who conned an 86-year-old woman into handing over £60 in cash has been jailed.

Daniel McCarther, 35, of Beambridge, Pitsea, left a vulnerable pensioner terrified after twice harassing and bullying her into handing over money for work he had not carried out.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard McCarther targeted the woman at an address in Tall Trees, Colchester.

Police had installed CCTV cameras at the victim’s home following a previous incident and the footage captured McCarther harassing her on her doorstep for nearly ten minutes.

After he succeeded in getting the woman to hand over £30 in cash, McCarther returned days later to try and extort her once more.

Sentencing him at Chelmsford Crown Court yesterday, Recorder Purchas QC said McCarther’s actions had left the victim “stressed and traumatised” in her own home.

He said: “Some part of the CCTV shows you over a period of nine minutes continually harassing, bullying and making false representations to this elderly lady.

“You were demanding money, starting with £40 but lowering to £30 extracted from her.

“The locks you claimed to have put in had been put in by another company. It was false, it was mean, it was deliberate.

“It was nothing less than preying on the vulnerability and frailty of this elderly lady.

“Elderly ladies of that kind deserve our respect and our attention.”

After first visiting the victim’s home on June 12, McCarther returned on June 21, making up a story about her son instructing him to carry out work.

Recorder Purchas added: “I have seen part of the CCTV which shows a continued harassment of this old lady, who simply had no money whatsoever.

“It is no surprise to the court to see the stress and the trauma that action has caused her in her in the security of her own home and in a later period of her life.”

McCarther was sentenced to one year in prison for defrauding the 86-year-old woman and 12 weeks imprisonment for a separate burglary.