Burglary conspirators targeted frail and vulnerable victims with an average age of 90, stealing thousands of pounds from them, a court heard.

People with dementia, mobility problems and blindness were among the victims.

Prosecutor Andrew Kershaw told Bradford Crown Court yesterday that Stewart Marshall and Len Lawrence offered to help with building work at people’s homes, but in reality they were burglars.

Mr Kershaw said: “They didn’t wear jumpers with hooped stripes, carry a bag marked swag and wear masks. They wore suits, they carried briefcases, clipboards, brochures and samples. But in reality they were gaining access to people’s houses in order to steal from the occupants.

“They made fools of their victims because their average age is something like 90, and they were targeted for that reason, because they were vulnerable, they had the frailties of old age or disease, and some of them were easily confused.”

Mr Kershaw told the jury it was likely to feel sympathy for the victims and fury at the behaviour of the defendants, but they had to approach the evidence without emotion.

The prosecutor said the first victim was Maurice Lobley, of Tingley, who died, aged 81, in September 2011.

Before his death he was suffering from dementia and “plainly vulnerable.”

Mr Lobley’s son, David, discovered his father had paid £15,000 for a driveway and £7,000 for a single window.

The next victim was 90-year-old widow Joan Cottam, of Embsay, near Skipton. She issued eight cheques, losing more than £11,000, to replace windows. Mrs Cottam said that a man involved in the work had persuaded her to hand over her wedding, engagement and eternity rings to be cleaned, but never returned them.

Mr Kershaw said Stewart Marshall’s daughter, Paige Marshall, a part-time student and social worker at the University of Bradford, cashed one cheque for £1,860 and two days later her father registered a Saab vehicle valued at the same amount. Mr Kershaw alleged Marshall’s partner, Emma Croasdell, a nurse at Bradford Royal Infirmary, cashed two cheques to the value of more thapn £2,000.

Mr Kershaw said a quantity surveyor looked at the paperwork and said the windows did not require replacing. Some other work had been done to the bungalow but it was of a poor standard. If all the work had been done, and done properly, Mrs Cottam was still charged ten times as much as she ought to have been.

The prosecution claim Marshall was responsible for tricking his way into the homes and stealing their handbags or purses. They included a 90-year-old woman in Great Horton with poor health and limited mobility, a partially-sighted 96-year-old woman from Wibsey, and a 94-year-old woman who was frail, blind in one eye and with mobility problems.

Marshall was arrested and granted bail and was put under observation. He was seen entering the home of an 89-year-old partially blind woman and obtained £30 by telling her he would do her garden. He was later seen behaving in a way “consistent with a drug addict getting a fix”.

Mr Kershaw said Frank Perkins, 66, who is wheelchair-bound, had visits from Marshall and Len Lawrence about work to patio flags, a fence and gates. They obtained a cheque for £450 as a deposit and Lawrence tried to bank it but Mr Perkins stopped the cheque.

Marshall was again arrested. His home was searched and papers were found in a cupboard with names and addresses and endorsements such as ‘Nutty old bat,’ ‘Mrs disabled’ and ‘Mr has Alzheimer’s and we have been at the door before.’ Stewart Marshall, 44, of Mayfield Rise, Wyke, Bradford, and Len Lawrence, 49, of Bush Hill Fold, Queensbury, have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to burgle.

Marshall and his daughter, Paige Marshall, 20, also of Mayfield Rise, have denied converting criminal property, the cheque for £1,860. Emma Croasdell, 38, of the same address, pleads not guilty to arranging to control criminal property for her partner.

The trial continues.