A COURAGEOUS widow has prayed for the callous conmen who cheated her.

The frail 81-year-old grandmother, a follower of the Mormon religion, said: "I have prayed for them, for somebody to say something to them and tell them what they have done is wrong."

But she added: "It was lucky I didn't have my walking stick with me, though, because I would have used it."

The pensioner, who has 10 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren, suffers from a brain condition which makes her increasingly weak.

She described how bogus builders twice called at her home in Baguley, Wythenshawe.

On the second visit, the woman handed over £60 after the conmen demanded money for fence panels which were stacked in her back garden.

She handed over the money even though she had already bought the panels, which her son had been due to return to the store because they were the wrong size.

The two men who visited her were caught on security camera and police have published the images in a bid to catch them.

Detectives believe the men behind the August 28 con may also have been involved in another incident at the house on August 16, when the victim answered a knock on her door and was met by a gang of six men.

They demanded £660 for work they said they had done on her garden.

When the pensioner told them she needed to get the cash from the bank they said they would return the following day.

But staff at the bank became suspicious and police were called. The gang never returned. The victim, who does not want to be identified, said: "I don't think these people realise the shock and what it does to a person."

Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 0161 856 4845 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800555111.