TWO conmen who targeted vulnerable elderly victims by cold calling have been jailed.

Teesside Crown Court heard how father and son Bernard Brian Collins, 61, also known as Brian McGinley, and Barney Edward Collins, 20, pressurised a 70-year-old Harrogate man and a 78-year-old Leeds woman into taking them to their banks to withdraw money for them after offering to do work.

The Harrogate man was made to go three times to his bank and was charged VAT although neither conman was VAT registered. He was cheated out of £1,720.

The woman was taken to a post office ATM and two different banks in one day and targeted on a separate occasion when she handed over a cheque for £3,600.

In both cases, the work the conmen said they would do was either done poorly or not at all.

The father and son, both of Newby Crescent, Harrogate, pleaded guilty to two charges of conspiracy to defraud. The father also admitted money laundering and was jailed for 21 months. The son was jailed for ten months.

Bernard Collins’ daughter Maureen Collins is wanted by police after she failed to answer bail.

Her bank account was allegedly used to launder money by one of the conmen. A third man, Patrick Duffy, 50, of Barden Terrace, Leeds, who was due to be sentenced with the Collins failed to attend court and is wanted on warrant.