A mother sniffed out a fake police officer with a pretend search warrant after she smelled alcohol on his breath.

Christine John, 59, of Egmont Road in New Malden, has lived at the address for nearly 30 years and is now scared to open her front door.

On October 10, just before 10pm three men knocked on her door and forced their way into her home.

Mrs John said: "I found myself being pushed in and a man walked in shouting ‘Police, I have a warrant to search these premises’.

"I was shocked. I asked to see the warrant. I could smell alcohol on his breath.

"I thought it was my son on his way back at first, which is why I opened the door.

"I wish I had not. It was quite shocking to have somebody push you into your own house and claim to be police."

The Malden Emergency First Aid Society trainer also noticed two other men in normal clothes waiting to come in.

She said: “I started shouting at them to get out. I called to my partner to come downstairs.

"That appeared to worry the other men, but the leader said ‘Come on, let’s do it’. They decided to leave while I was phoning 999."

Police came to the house after the incident and took fingerprints.

But they closed the case after Mrs John was unable to identify the trespassers from photographs of known criminals.

She said: “The police just closed the case. What if they are new people who have not been in trouble with the police before? They would never catch them, would they?

“I avoid opening the door now. I am very concerned. The street is just not the same anymore. With Beverley Park nearby we just do not know what is going on outside in the dark.”

Mrs John is now looking into putting up a CCTV camera at the front of her home.