THE daughter of an elderly woman, who died two days after bogus callers stole cash from her home, has blamed the shock of the burglary for her death.

Trusting Doreen Witterick, 76, let a man into her home after he claimed to be mending her neighbour's water pipes on the Shepway estate in Maidstone.

Within 48 hours Mrs Witterick was dead. Her daughter, Marlyn Banks, said her mother never recovered from the shock of her home being raided by strangers.

"It's disgusting and despicable that people rob their own sort," she said. "She was a defenceless old lady."

Mrs Witterick, a mother of nine who was originally from Sheppey, lived in Greenborough Close, Shepway. She answered the door to a man who claimed the flat above had a faulty washing machine and was flooding.

After asking to check her taps, the man made his way into Mrs Witterick's kitchen and kept her busy by asking her to help him.

Meanwhile, an accomplice crept into her front room and went through drawers, stealing £85 pension money. After they left, Mrs Witterick found her room in a mess and money gone.

Mrs Banks, from Doncaster, said her mother was fit and well but the shock of the burglary had upset her a great deal. She said the burglars would have to live with what they had done.

"As far as they were concerned it was money for their next fix. She was a lovely woman and she just couldn't see the bad in people. She was probably more shocked than she let on and she dwelled on what they had done to her."

Two days after the burglary, Mrs Witterick died in her sleep. A spokeswoman for Maidstone and Malling Police said: "It was a thorough investigation and given the nature of the incident, there is no evidence to suggest the burglary had anything to do with Mrs Witterick's death."

Before her death, Mrs Witterick was able to give a description of the first burglar.

He is aged about 19, slim, with light brown, short hair and wearing a beige jacket. He also had a northern-sounding accent.