POLICE are warning churches to be alert after a vicious conman tried to swindle hundreds of pounds from ministers.

A man calling himself Steve Thompson tried to obtain more than £300 from church elder Graham Coles of Beaconsfield Baptist Church on Bank Holiday Monday, say police.

Almost a month earlier he had approached a minister at Gold Hill Baptist Church, Chalfont St Peter.

The man, who police say sometimes uses the name Robert Morton, has also targeted churches in South London and Hampshire.

He claimed during a telephone conversation with Mr Coles that he was going to kill his stepfather, because the stepfather had beaten up his mother and sexually abused his 17-year-old daughter.

He then said that he had just come back from Northern Ireland where he was a soldier and had to return to his base in Scotland as an emergency. He claimed he had been absent without leave from the army before, and if he was not back, he would be thrown out of the army.

Mr Coles said: "It is very difficult to know the deserving from the undeserving cases. Knowing that others have found him undeserving, I think the thing to do is certainly not to give him money.

"He needs help, but it isn't the sort of situation where one can give help on a one-stop discussion. He just needs real help."

Police warn that the man was quite nervous and agitated and he had been abusive when money had not been given.

They believe that he tells people that the stepfather lives in the South of England and that if they gave him money to get back to Aberdeen, it would also prevent the situation with his stepfather from getting any worse.

The man is described as in his late thirties or early forties, is thin with short brown hair and a moustache. He is 5ft 11in tall and has a Scottish accent.

Detective Sergeant Steve Armstead said: "It was a complete fabrication to deceive the churches out of money and he has been doing this on a regular basis.

"We would ask for any churches or anybody connected with any church who has heard this or a similar story to get in touch with me."

% Anyone with any information should contact Det Sgt Armstead on (01296) 396000

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