A man conned a vulnerable pensioner out of more than £18,000 despite only completing £238 of building work on her Hatfield home.

Tony Smith, 41, who is currently serving a prison sentence at HMP High Down, admitted conning the pensioner, who was in her 80s, over a space of five months from November 2015 until March 2016.

Smith, formerly of Burn Hill in Surrey, went over to the woman's home, where he had worked before, and identified several problems with her garage.

After completing the work he arranged to meet the woman in a 'neutral location' in various car parks around Hatfield to be given envelopes containing several hundred pounds.

The court heard that Smith and the pensioner had met at least 48 times to exchange cash for work that Smith had done in fixing what he claimed was a problem with the garage roof, a woodworm infestation, and a damaged facade.

Smith was only caught after a friendly Post Office worker asked the pensioner what one of her withdrawals was for. When the situation was explained the worker encouraged her to go to the police.

In total police found that Smith had charged the pensioner £18,020, while only carrying out £238 worth of work.

The offences were all committed while Smith was on bail prior to a trial in Portsmouth in which he was accused of being part of a £134,000 fraud scam across three counties.

Smith was found guilty of those offences and was jailed late last year for four years.

In mitigation it was claimed that Smith had been suffering from alcohol and gambling addictions and his actions were taken at a low point in his life.

Recorder Jonathan Lee said: "You have taken steps to address your gambling and alcohol problems while in prison.

"As a result of your guilty plea I will take your sentence down to 22 months which will be consecutively to the sentence you are currently serving."

Recorder Lee also ordered him to pay compensation of £17,800.