BOLTON pensioners are being urged to be on their guard after two men demanded £80 from a 90-year-old woman ... for sharpening a pair of garden shears.

Peter Welsby, of the Poppies cleaning firm, confronted them at the home of a client in Hillside Avenue, Bromley Cross. The pensioner said the men, one in his 50s and the other in his 30s, called at her home yesterday asking if she wanted any tools sharpened.

They demanded £80 but when Mr Welsby went to alert the police the pair made off with £50 of the woman's money.

"They took every penny she had," said Mr Welsby. "You could buy 10 sets of shears for that."

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