A 94-year-old Trowbridge woman who fell victim to a con man has spoken of the loss of a locket she had treasured for 70 years.

Florence Blackwell, of Polebarn Road, was the second victim of distraction burglary in the same area of the town, opposite the police station, in just a few weeks.

The heartless thief tricked his way into the pensioner's home and stole a locket given to her as a wedding present by her first husband, who died in 1936 at the age of 29, just three years after the couple married.

She said: "It means a lot to me, even after all these years. It isn't the value, even if it was just out of a cracker it would mean a lot."

Mrs Blackwell let the man into her home on May 26 when he knocked on her door to ask if he could use the toilet.

The normally security-conscious pensioner only let him into the bungalow because she had earlier seen him talking to one of her neighbours on the street outside and assumed he was a visiting relation.

The man said he would cut the hedge at the front of her property but, after Mrs Blackwell went to make him a cup of tea, she discovered he had gone into her bedroom.

It was not until the following day that she noticed her locket, which had been on a cabinet in her bedroom, had vanished.

She said: "I never let anyone in so why I did with him I don't know. I suppose it was because I thought he was something to do with my neighbour.

"I'm mad with myself to think I let him in because I always put the chain on the door."

Mrs Blackwell, who grew up in Trowbridge, married her first husband, Donald Knowles, in 1933.

The couple had one son together, who was still a toddler when his father died of a blood disorder in 1936.

The gold locket that Mrs Blackwell has kept ever since has a picture of her on one side and a picture of her late husband on the other.

DC Dave Sharp of Trowbridge Police said: "She has kept the locket all these years for someone to take it like this I think is just diabolical."

The burglary came just weeks after a 91-year-old woman living at Raleigh Court was targeted by a man posing as a neighbour's grandson.

The woman's purse was stolen in the incident, which happened on May 10.

Police have not had any leads on the first crime and are not ruling out a connection between the two incidents.

The man involved in the second burglary is described as in his early 20s, 5ft 8 to 5ft 10, with light brown hair and an earring in his left ear.

Police are appealing for anyone with information, particularly about the whereabouts of the locket to call Trowbridge police on (01225) 763101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 anonymously.