A CONMAN who stole the life savings of an 87-year-old pensioner from Stockton Heath has been released after serving eight days in prison.

Shaun Thornton Price, aged 22, of Caravan Park, Widnes, was set free, it is believed on Saturday.

Probation guidelines mean he will not be monitored, or face any further punishment.

A spokesman for Cheshire Probation Trust said it could not comment on specific cases but confirmed rules of release.

He said: “Under the current arrangements if an individual is sentenced to a period of imprisonment under 12 months for any offence, and is over the age of 21 at the time of sentencing, they would be released without a period of licence and Cheshire Probation Trust would have no involvement with the management of the case.”

Price and James Dean Loveridge, aged 18, of The Caravan, Fairbank, Elton, scammed vulnerable pensioner Elspeth Wilson by convincing her she needed building work doing and taking cash payments for work that was never carried out.

As revealed in the Warrington Guardian, the retired teacher lost £14,000 and is now in a care home after leaving her home on Walton Road after 35 years as family did not want her to be conned again.

Loveridge is due to be released tomorrow, Friday, after a two week prison term.

He will be subject to a three month supervision order.

The CPT spokesman added: “This would include conditions to be well behaved, not commit any offence and not do anything which could undermine the purposes of supervision, which are to protect the public, prevent re-offending and help re-settle successfully into the community.

“Additional conditions such as exclusion from specific areas, prohibited contact with certain individuals, residency at an approved address and attendance at specialist programmes may also be included.

“An individual would be managed by an offender manager who would undertake work targeted at reducing an individuals risk of re-offending and risk to the public as well as engaging an individual with support, for example gaining employment or training and appropriate housing.

“If an individual breaches the conditions, enforcement action is pursued through the courts.

“This may lead to a further period of imprisonment being imposed.”

Loveridge and Price were jailed for four months after pleading guilty to fraud at Chester Crown Court on January 24.

Sentences were reduced as both had spent time on electronic tag, while credit was also given for guilty pleas.