Police said that at around 11.15am yesterday, a woman in her 70s was at her Poplar Hill home in Stowmarket, when she heard her letterbox being rattled.

She went to the door to find a parcel on her doorstep.

A man ran up to her from the Combs direction, saying he was fitting a kitchen nearby and needed help with a pipe, but the woman closed the door on the man.

He is described as being white, in his late teens, around 5ft 4ins tall, with short dark wavy hair.

He was wearing a dark-coloured jacket with a knitted collar.

Around an hour later in The Chestnuts, Great Finborough, a woman in her 80s answered her door to a man who said he was working nearby and had flooded a kitchen, so needed to shut off the water.

The woman asked for ID, which the man did not have. He again asked to come in but she refused and closed the door.

He walked off towards High Road.

He is described as being in his late teens, around 5ft 5ins tall, of slim build with short dark hair, tanned complexion and wearing a blue boiler suit.

Anyone with information should contact Det Con Jim Gidney at Stowmarket CID on 01473 613500 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.