A bank clerk helped stop a rogue builder suspected of trying to scam a 94-year-old woman.

Lloyds TSB in Central Road, Worcester Park, became suspicious when the elderly woman told a cashier she wanted to withdraw £4,000 cash to pay for wall repairs.

The woman, who lives alone, was visited on January 7 by a man offering to do some work.

After the woman tried to withdraw the £4,000, the bank called the Worcester Park Safer Neighbourhood Team and officers arrived at the woman’s home, where they arrested a man in his 50s for fraud by misrepresentation.

He told police he had not had any direct contact with the woman and that he had been offered the work for £80 cash earlier that morning from a man named Paddy.

He denied knowing about the quoted £4,000 and was bailed to return to Sutton police station.

Detective Constable Paul Williams, of Sutton CID, said: “The bank’s staff must be congratulated for their vigilance, which saved this woman from losing £4,000.”

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