A pensioner was robbed of her gold jewellery by a couple pretending to be lottery-winning asylum seekers.

Police are appealing for witnesses following the robbery in Green Lane, Ilford.

The 62-year-old victim was approached by a man and a woman as she waited at a bus stop between South Park Road and South Park Drive.

The female suspect explained that she needed help to claim the prize for a winning lottery ticket as she was an asylum seeker and had no identification documents.

The couple drove the victim near to her home address, but while in the green car they robbed her of her Asian gold jewellery.

The suspects tried to pull off one of the victim’s bangles but it was too small.

The man then told the victim to go into her home and return promptly her passport and bank cards.

When the victim went inside, her daughter quickly recognised she had been robbed.

She went outside to confront the suspects but they had already left the scene.

The man is described as being Asian, aged 40-45, 5ft 6ins of medium build.

He was wearing a grey suit and a grey baseball cap. He claimed his name was Sharma and he spoken in fluent Punjabi.

The woman is a fair skinned female of Asian appearance, also 40 to 45. She was wearing a green kameez (long skirt) with pink embroidery and round-shaped gold, green and pink earrings.

She spoke in broken English and claimed her name was Rani.

Contact Det Con Zobia Ayub of Redbridge CID on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 quoting reference 4415322/14.