A burglar ripped a phone from its wall socket as a terrified 85-year-old called for help as he burst into her bedroom.
The man, who had his nose and mouth covered, forced a kitchen window of the house in Flemming Crescent, Leigh, and kicked open a locked internal door.
He then ransacked the ground floor rooms before going upstairs and burst into a bedroom. The woman was alone at the time.
PC Matt Slade, from Southend police's burglary squad, said: "The lady was terrified. She asked him what he was doing and the burglar mumbled 'money'.
"She then said 'your mate took it yesterday' to try to make him think that she'd recently been burgled but he carried on searching her bedroom. She picked up the phone to call police, but he snatched it from her hand and ripped it from the socket in the wall.
"He couldn't find anything valuable but spotted her handbag and took her purse."
The crook had his nose and mouth covered up but was white, of medium build and 5ft 10ins tall. Call the burglary squad on 01702 431212.
Published Wednesday July 28, 2004
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