A good samaritan has stepped in to help an 85-year-old man who was cruelly duped out of £1,300 by rogue builders.

The pensioner was cold-called by three men who convinced him his chimney stack was in a dangerous condition.

He let them on to the roof of his bungalow in Mickleburgh Avenue, Herne Bay, where they demolished the brickwork and threw it in his back garden.

They then accompanied him to a building society in the town and forced him to withdraw the cash and hand it over, before vanishing without returning to the property to clean up as promised.

Soon after, the victim realised he had been cheated and called builder Scott Davis, of Quality Construction, who had completed work for him in the past.

Mr Davis said: “He told me he thought he had made a big mistake. I went round to check and was shocked to see the damage and mess they had caused.

“He’s a nice old boy so I called a roofer friend, Tony King, and asked him if he could help.”

Tony, of A King Roofing in the town, said: “I couldn’t believe what they had done. Really, they just stole the money off him.

“It was little more than theft.

“There was clearly nothing wrong with the chimney stack, but they pulled half of it down and just dumped the brickwork and mortar in his back garden. They had also damaged the flue.

“They claimed they were coming back to clean it up but just vanished when they’d got his money.

“People who do this sort of thing and target the vulnerable elderly are the lowest of the low.”

Tony said he spent half a day repairing the stack and cleaning up the rubble for the pensioner.

He said: “He wanted to pay me but I refused, although he insisted I take a tenner for a drink.

“I heard these operators also tried it on with another pensioner in Herne Bay but she twigged something was wrong and turned them away.”

Police have now issued an appeal to find the rogue builders. They are looking for three men who were in a flat-bed truck with ladders on the back.

They are also urging homeowners not to allow work on their homes by traders who come cold-calling.

Sgt Nick Barton said: “A rogue trader is someone who cold-calls at your home and offers services or goods and overcharges you for them.

“This includes overcharging for unnecessary work, damaging property deliberately to get money, leaving work unfinished and intimidating someone to get money.”

Anyone with information about the incident should call police on 01843 222289, quoting crime reference ZY/20720/16.