A MAN charged with burglary after an elderly couple were allegedly conned out of their life savings was unable to enter a plea at Bournemouth Crown Court last week due to the barristers' strike.

Clifford Whitaker, 36, was due to attend a plea and trial preparation hearing. However, as he was unrepresented in the court, the case was adjourned until later this month.

Whitaker, of Abbey Road in St Johns Wood, London, was arrested after an alleged burglary in Pinehurst Road, West Moors on Monday, February 5.

Police allege three men claiming to represent a company called Kennedy Water visited the address during the afternoon. It was later discovered 98 sovereign coins and six kilograms of silver with a total value of around £40,000 had been taken, police claim.

The complainants, who are aged 63 and 85. told the Echo: "We've been collecting for more than five years.

"As we got a little bit of money at one time we would decide to buy a coin.

"We collected them as an investment and it was something we enjoyed."

Court proceedings across the country are being disrupted as some lawyers refuse to take on new cases and stage walkouts.

The Criminal Bar Association has warned that prisons, courts, the police and probation services are “underfunded and in chaos”.