A 97-year-old widow’s wedding ring was stolen when she was targeted by thieves twice in a week before Christmas.

The woman had a necklace snatched while she was wearing it in an incident at her home in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, which police described as “sickening”.

The victim, who does not want to be identified, is believed to live alone following the death of her husband.

The first incident took place on the evening of Sunday 16 December when her house alarm was activated.

An unknown man, who was seemingly passing by at the time, approached the woman and offered to help, but he quickly left when a neighbour arrived, police said.

The following day, between 5pm and 9pm, an unknown man knocked on the woman’s front door and claimed he was there to fix the alarm.

Once the bogus caller was inside, he stole the woman’s purse, containing a small amount of cash, from her handbag.

On Sunday 23 December, the woman heard a knock on her front window at about 7.30pm, but she ignored it. Soon afterwards, a man smashed the rear patio window and broke into her house.

Once inside, he rifled through her Christmas cards searching for money.

He then approached the victim in her armchair and snatched her necklace from around her neck before fleeing the property.

The long gold chain contained her gold wedding ring, a family heirloom that had been passed down from her grandmother, police said.

DC Jordan Wilcock from Rochdale CID said: “Thankfully, the woman was not injured, but she was understandably very shaken up by this ordeal.

“It is sickening that a 97-year-old woman was targeted in this way and had her precious jewellery snatched from around her neck in her own home. The photo of the necklace is not the best quality, but we are hoping people might recognise it and help us return it to the victim.

“Did you see anyone acting suspiciously or anything unusual in the area at the time? Any information you have may be vital in allowing us to catch the cowardly thug who robbed this vulnerable and elderly woman.”

Anyone with any information should call police on 0161 856 8635 quoting incident number 1,948 of 23 December 2018.