A PENSIONER who handed over £2,000 to a conman who had offered to resurface his driveway admitted last night: "I've been a fool, but I've learned my lesson."

Graham Dodd, aged 72, was one of two elderly men to give bogus workman Patrick Maughan a total of £10,000 for jobs he never carried out.

As 20-year-old Maughan, of Refinery Street, Newcastle, began a 14-month prison term after admitting fraud, widower Mr Dodd said at his Kidsgrove home: "I just hope others learn from my mistake and get a proper firm in.

"This man was so smartly dressed and businesslike I completely fell for it. He had a briefcase and pictures of other drives he had done.

"I got the full works and he even burst into tears at one point, because he thought his boss would go mad at giving me such a good price."

The retired Shelton Steelworks and Radway Green worker told how when Maughan pounced, he was in mourning for his dog who had died two days before.

"I had my Westie Ben for company after my wife, Margaret, died 13 years ago," he said. "I keep his ashes on my mantelpiece and this man showed a lot of interest in him. I was at a low ebb and very vulnerable.

"I had saved up the money for years for jobs on the house, but now I will have to start trying to get some more money for that.

"I even had to put back the bricks he had dug up."

Maughan also duped 77-year-old Philip Higson into giving him £8,000 to resurface the driveway at his Newcastle home. The two pensioners independently called in police.

Judge Robert Trevor-Jones told Maughan: "These were mean offences. They were vulnerable, naive and elderly gentlemen. Without any threat or intimidation you put them under pressure.

"They both speak of the considerable extent they have been distressed and traumatised by the realisation they have been duped in this extremely mean and cynical way."

Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard yesterday how Maughan and another man offered to resurface Mr Higson's drive for between £300 and £500 on November 18 and 19, only for the figure to rise to £1,650.

The men returned on November 20 and started digging up the driveway.

But after Mr Higson handed over £1,000 he was told there was a problem with damp and the work would cost £5,000.

Mr Higson gave Maughan £3,000 on November 23 and handed over £1,000 the next day.

In return Maughan spent £99 on gravel which was delivered to Mr Higson's home and then told the pensioner he had been sacked.

Mr Higson then paid another £3,000 on November 27, but called in police when Maughan asked for £4,000 more on December 3.

Days earlier, Maughan had targeted Mr Dodd, who paid £1,000 for work to start on the drive at his bungalow.

But Maughan later said the price of the job had risen to £11,000 and Mr Dodd handed over another £1,000. Police later found Maughan's DNA in the pensioner's car.

Richard Oldroyd, mitigating, said Maughan has brought considerable shame on his family and bitterly regrets his actions.

He said: "All he wants to do is serve his penalty and get back to earning an honest living."

Latest figures show the number of distraction burglaries in Staffordshire has fallen from 181 between April 2008 and February 2009 to 144 over the same 10 month period this year.