A MAN charged with duping an elderly woman out of more than £2,000 was acquitted before St Albans Crown Court on Thursday, January 31.

Mr George Albert Brown, 30, a traveller from Cambridgeshire, stood accused of obtaining property by deception but the jury came to a unanimous verdict of not guilty.

The court heard how in August 2000, a St Albans woman handed over money to two men she thought would be returning the following day to carry out repairs on her home.

She said they had called at her home and said they had spotted problems with the outside of her house that they could help with.

She showed the younger of the two men, several rooms inside the house which had damp problems, and he agreed to do the repairs for £2,200.

In her evidence, she said she asked him if he wanted to be paid in advance and when he told her he needed money to buy materials, she went to a bank in the city centre and withdrew it. She met him at the Clock Tower and handed over the money.

The next day, when the men failed to turn up at the agreed time she went to the police station to say she thought she had been tricked.

When she returned, however, she found a note attached to her door saying the men had called and found nobody at home. After attempting to start the work they said they were forced to stop because of a wasps' nest in the roof.

The woman said she was surprised when about a week later the younger man knocked at her back door. She said she was shocked to see him again and asked for her money back. He told her he would return with it, but that was the last she saw of him.

Mrs Anne Evans, for the prosecution, showed the jury how Mr Brown's fingerprints matched those found on the note.

In defence, Mr Mike Conlon explained how no identification parade had been held and therefore no positive identification of Mr Brown had taken place.

In summing up, Judge Gosschalk told the jury: "You must be sure that it was the defendant who made the alleged deception and that the representation made was a false one."

In her evidence, the elderly woman told Mr Conlon that she blamed herself for being conned out of money.

She said: "I think you learn by your mistakes. I know I have."