Children claiming to have lost a football are being used as decoys in distraction burglaries targeting elderly people the Black Country.

They have been used to knock on doors saying their ball has been kicked into the back garden of vulnerable residents’ homes. There is no sign of the football when elderly victims help to look.

But they then find their home has been entered. People in Wolverhampton and Walsall have been targeted in the last week alone. It has prompted police to warn residents to be on their guard.

Around £50 was taken from a woman’s handbag in Darlaston at around 5.30pm on Saturday. A boy believed to be aged between 10 to 12 and with an Irish accent knocked on her door.

He claimed to have kicked a ball over the back fence but when the victim took him through to the back garden it could not be seen.

When the woman went to the front door there was another man who looked older walking down the road near the house. She then found her upstairs had been searched and money taken.

It comes after another elderly woman was targeted at around the same time in Bradley, Bilston, on Friday. A similar tactic was used with a boy believed to be aged around 11.

As she went back inside her home she saw a man came down the stairs and run out of the door. She found her bag had been moved although nothing appeared to have been taken.

Det Insp Justin Spanner, from Force CID, said police neighbourhood teams were delivering literature to residents to reassure them. Anyone with information should call Force CID at Bloxwich on 0345 113 5000 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.