It was a fraud worthy of a film plot, but a Chester woman showed great courage to bring the man who betrayed her to justice.
Lynn Hawes bravely stood up in court to tell how Ajibola Daudu had 'exploited' her.
Police said she was also ‘instrumental’ in the conman’s arrest and without her he might never have been caught.
Ms Hawes has ended up £100,000 in debt after being cruelly tricked by Daudu and his gang.
The devious 43-year-old was jailed for 45 months at Chester Crown Court on Wednesday (March 15).
Ms Hawes said: “I feel my vulnerability and my search for companionship have been exploited in the most cruel way.
“The money could have been life changing for me and my family, but I realise I was being groomed.
“I will be paying off debts for a very long time after he has been released from prison.”
Ms Hawes joined dating website Plenty of Fish in February 2015 after rebuilding her confidence following the end of a long-term relationship.
On the first day she was contacted by a man named John Wilmots who she confessed she ended up falling in love with. They messaged every day and met up twice.
The victim said she thought she had ‘found a soulmate’ in John as they maintained a long distance relationship.
He claimed to be an intelligence agent who needed her help in accessing £7million left to him by his father, but which was inaccessible in Dubai.
Ms Hawes even travelled to the Gulf State and was shown a suitcase containing the supposed inheritance.
Over a spell of 18 months, John and his associates developed their convincing lie using expensive hotels and fake documents to persuade their victim to give them money to help move the £7m to the UK – where she would be repaid.
Judge Nicholas Woodward described it as a ‘complex, calculated and systematic’ case and a ‘shameless betrayal’.
She was introduced to Daudu, who used the fake name Douglas Benjamin and claimed to be John’s agent, in October 2015.
Ms Hawes said Daudu was the ‘main player in the later stages of the fraud’ as the scheming gang continued to ‘move the goalposts’.
This included paying for anti-money laundering certificates and documents to get the cash through customs, but there were always complications.
Individually he was directly responsible for £26,000 she has lost.
As her relationship with John became more distant, Ms Hawes grew close to a man she knew as Doug, who claimed he had also committed money to securing the £7m.
After her family contacted police over their fears about the relationship in July 2016, officers visited her to advise her she was being conned.
Initially she thought they were wrong, but a further meeting with Daudu convinced her all was not as it seemed.
For the next two months Ms Hawes worked alongside the force and maintained contact with the man who had deceived her.
They set up a further meeting at the Crowne Plaza in London, where Daudu wanted a further £27k from her, but this time he was arrested on September 21, 2016.
Ms Hawes said: “People might listen to my story and think how can you be so stupid?
“But they have no idea how these men made me feel. My life was like a movie and it was just so realistic and convincing.
“It’s terrible being lonely and I wanted someone to be with.
"I feel totally betrayed and I didn’t think people could stoop so low.”
When sentencing Daudu, Judge Woodward said the victim’s moving statement had persuaded him the crime should be categorised more seriously.
The 43-year-old defendant, of Banner Close, Purfleet, shouted out he ‘deserved to lose everything’ during the hearing.
Cheshire Police sergeant Kev Green said the conman used his ‘intelligence and charisma’ to gain Ms Hawes’s trust.
He said: “Knowing that the victim was fully committed to him, Daudu perpetuated the unachievable aspiration of companionship and happiness, making further requests for cash whilst continually shifting the goalposts.
“He was content to financially exhaust the victim in this case to satisfy his own personal greed.
“Daudu failed to recognise the courage and determination of his victim, who once she realised was being scammed, was instrumental in his location and arrest.”
