Pensioners duped into buying tickets for a bogus pantomime have called in police to investigate.

At least 50 members of the Denholme Elders Network were approached to buy tickets at £1.50 each for a production of Cinderella which the con artists said was taking place at the Mechanics Institute in Main Road.

Network co-ordinator Tina Butler said the scam was the latest attempt to trick her members into parting with their money.

She said: "Most of my members have been asked to buy these tickets and it turns out there isn't even a pantomime.

"When I checked if the pantomime was being held at the Institute I found out that no show had been booked."

She added: "With the National Census coming round, I had asked members to make sure they asked for identification before handing any documents or money over.

"Then one of the members said she had been approached to buy tickets to a pantomime being held at the Institute.

"It turned out that most of the 47 people at the meeting and lots more I visit on my rounds had also been asked to pay for tickets."

Posters had been put up in the village last month claiming the show would be staged at Denholme Edge Church instead of the Institute, which never happened.

Mrs Butler said: "My members have been approached before to buy different things.

"Some of them were asked to buy scones which the people selling said would help to raise money for schools in the village and various other causes, when it was just to line their own pockets."

The matter was referred to Denholme police officer PC Ian Hemsworth after he visited the members at one of their meetings in April, held in the Institute, to gauge their main concerns.

PC Hemsworth said he could not comment on the case in detail but did confirm that an investigation had been launched into the claims.