Dilys Jones, 62, relied on Christopher Owen to take her to the shops and hospital appointments but he conned her out of her £43,000 life savings
A disabled woman was fleeced out of her life savings by a taxi driver who left her with just £13 to her name.
Dilys Jones, 62, relied on cabbie Christopher Owen to take her to the shops and hospital appointments for years from her home.
But he conned her out of her £43,000 life savings to fund a “lavish lifestyle and gambling addiction” which left her with just £13 in her savings.
Dilys told of her heartbreak after Owen was jailed for three-and-a-half years in June.
Dilys, who has cerebral palsy and epilepsy, said: “Being severely disabled I needed lifts most days to get out - I began to trust Christopher like family.
“I lived in a flat with supported living and a warden but Christopher would take me shopping to Asda and when I went for hospital appointments he would even come in and see the doctors with me.”
He told her he loved her to get her to withdraw the charges
But Owen, 48, began to take money from Dilys after being trusted to used her cash card and cheque book.
He began transferring money out of her bank account and milked her life savings dry over nine months.
Dilys said he declared his love for her in an attempt to get her to withdraw the charges.
Owen, of Penarth, initially denied the charges in the hope Dilys would drop her complaints.
But he later pleaded guilty to three charges of theft and 14 charges of fraud and one charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Jailing him for three and a half years at Cardiff Crown Court , the judge also imposed a restraining order to stay away from Dilys who has no close family of her own.
Speaking after the case, Dilys said Owen told her that taxi fares were becoming more expensive - hiking the cost up from £150 a month to £500.
She said: “Christopher told me that taxi fares were going up. My taxi bill was normally around £150 a month to the company he worked for - now it was going up to £500.
“I told him that was a lot and he gave me a weak sympathetic smile.”
'He squandered my money'
Owen’s deception lasted for nine months before Dilys wanted to move house and was told by a rent officer that she was in arrears.
Dilys believed she had plenty of savings in her Nationwide bank account but the £43,281 had vanished.
She said: “All I could do was look in horror as she showed me dozens and dozens of withdrawals from my account - £500 a time, sometimes more."
Dilys now wants to warn others who might fall victim to Owen’s deceit.
She said: “He had groomed me to gain access to my money.
“He’d even gone as far as telling me he loved me and cared for me - all the time robbing me blind. It was shameful.
“He had squandered my money to fund a lavish lifestyle - going on foreign holidays as well as having a spiralling gambling addiction.
“I’ve even had to rely on the local food bank for groceries and even a local emergency fund with the council for some cash. I feel humiliated and so stupid and I feel very, very angry.
“I would just like to share my story and to say to all women out there - if you ever set eyes on Christopher Owen grab your purse and run the other way as fast as you can.”
Dilys has since been reimbursed by the Nationwide Building Society for some of the money which Owen took.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/taxi-driver-conned-disabled-woman-12408632
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