A couple who conned their way into the homes of elderly people in Hayes and stole their valuables have been jailed at Isleworth Crown Court for a total of 11 years after a series of distraction burglaries.

Martin Wickens, 21, and Eileen Doyle, 23, got into their way into victims’ homes by pretending that they were related to a neighbour and needed sugar, or had accidentally thrown a ball into their back garden.

Once they were let into a house, one of them kept the victim busy while the other crept off to scour rooms for money and valuables, such as jewellery and phones.

Hillingdon police took the lead in the investigation, which spanned London and the Home Counties.

The court heard how, if victims’ became suspicious, the pair then lied their way out of the situation. In one incident, Doyle, who was posing as an assistant from a care home, talked her way into a 90-year-old woman’s home in Dunstable.

Doyle left the front door open so Wickens could creep upstairs. He was later found by the victim, and said he was a plumber. When she challenged him, he pushed his way past her and out of the house. The victim later found that her jewellery had been stolen.

Wickens and Doyle targeted elderly men and women aged 74-94, in numerous locations including Hayes, Chesham, Denham and Wembley. Some had previously been victims of burglary by the pair.

Both had been released from prison in September 2013, following a four-year sentence for a series of distraction burglaries against the elderly. But within days they began their new onslaught.

Following a spate of burglaries in Bedfordshire, officers were made aware of a silver Renault Clio linked to the burglaries. The officers pursued the car but the occupants managed to get away, dumping the car on the roadside.

Inside the car, officers found numerous pieces of evidence, including items of clothing described by victims as having been worn by the suspects. They also found Doyle’s Blackberry.

Detectives traced the pair to an address in Wedgewood Road, Luton, where they were arrested in December 2013.

Evidence against the pair was compelling. Wickens had been caught on a covert camera that police had installed at a 94-year-old woman’s house after she was a victim of a distraction burglary in 2011.

Footage from October 21, 2013, shows Wickens barge past her the victim into her home in Hayes after she opened the door to him. He later leaves, and the victim finds her handbag missing.

On Thursday, April 24, 2014, Doyle admitted eight counts of burglary, and Wickens one count of conspiracy to commit burglary plus 10 counts of burglary. Wickens also asked for 10 other residential burglaries to be taken into account.

The pair were sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court on Friday, May 30.

Wickens, of Wootton Drive, Hemel Hempstead, received a total of six years’ jail, and Doyle, of Bishops Grove Caravan Site, Chapter Way, Hampton sentenced to five years.

Investigating officer, Detective Constable Hannah Woolford of Hillingdon Crime Squad, said: “Wickens and Doyle have done more than commit a crime.

“By trickery, they lied their way into the homes of the most vulnerable members of society. They have made the victims feel unsafe and deceived. One of the victims was left so traumatised she has since had difficulty staying in the house that she has happily lived in for 50 years.

“I implore family members to warn their elderly relatives of such deceptions and remind residents not let people they don’t know into their homes; no matter how convincing they appear to be.

“If in doubt, keep them out – and notify the police.”