A trickster duped an 83-year-old Chippenham man into handing over his garden shredder for free.

John Truckle had a shredder for sale at his back gate in The Hamlet.

He said a man claiming to live in Greenway Lane came to his door on Saturday afternoon and offered him £10 for the Bosch shredder, which was priced at £15 and is worth more than £150 new.

They settled on £12 and Mr Truckle trusted him to drop the money round later but he never came back.

Mr Truckle said: “Taking advantage of an elderly gentleman, it doesn’t seem he’s got a conscience.

“The fact that he knocked on the door offered me the money, if he wanted to take it he could have.”