Six men have pleaded guilty to telephone fraud which saw a Steeple Bumpstead family tricked out of £7,00.

Other victims in Essex included a family in Dedham handing over £5,000 to the men who posed as police officers.

In total, the men have been charged with 10 counts of conspiracy to defraud by false representation across East Anglia between March and July this year.

Mohammed Miah, 22, Mohammed Hussain, 22, Motahir Rahman, 23, Mohammed Ahmed, 22 and Dedar Ali 20, all admitted conspiracy to defraud between March and July 2014. Salam Uddin,18, admitted a separate charge of conspiracy to defraud at Cirencester, Gloucestershire on January 4 2014.

They appeared at St Alban’s Crown Court on Monday and will be sentenced at the same court on December 4.