Police have launched an investigation after a man claimed to be a reporter from The News in Portsmouth and asked to go into the home of a pensioner to interview him.

The News contacted police after 76-year-old Peter Greenstreet call the paper to check the man's story.

He had received a telephone call saying that police believed his wife matched a description of a woman given to police, and the man said he would visit next morning with an officer to interview him.

The pensioner told The News: "He asked if it would be all right to come round in the morning with a policeman. He said he wanted to write a report on it.

"I said I didn't know what he was on about and that my wife died four years ago. With that he immediately slammed the phone down.

"It's got to be a scam to get into people's houses. It annoyed me and I'm worried for people."

Colin McNeil, assistant editor at The News, told HoldtheFrontPage that this was the first time he had heard of this happening.

He said: "The man rang us and said 'have you got a reporter coming down?'

"Our reporters always carry identification and our advice to anyone would be to ask for that.

"If they can't do that then contact the organisation they claim to be from, whether that be us or the gas board or whoever."