Sussex widow, 79, lost £60,000 in scam and left with no roof on her house

Anne Morley, of Sea Lane, was left with nothing but an unfinished house project and ‘multiple debts’.

Anne, who has no family, said the scam happened while major renovation works were being carried out on her damaged roof.

Writing on crowdfunder.co.uk, the 79-year-old said: “A company approached me online and suggested they could help with the funds needed to complete the works. They were not linked to anyone I knew. At first they seemed legitimate but, after further investigation, I was made aware that it was a scam and that they had, in fact, taken £60,000 of my money.”

A Sussex Police investigation is underway.

A spokesperson said: “Police are investigating a report of fraud linked to a victim in the East Preston area. Officers are supporting the victim and working with partner agencies including Action Fraud. Further advice about scams and fraud is available on the Sussex Police website www.sussex.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/fa/fraud.”

Anne said the incident has left her with no money so she does not have funds to begin renovation works inside, so all of her upstairs rooms are damaged by her leaking roof.

She said: “I do not even have money to complete the roof over my house, currently bare rafters and a lot more work needed, for which I have no funds.

“I am reaching out to the generosity of the public to try and assist in this awful situation that I have been left in. I have a small dog and a cat and am terrified of them being ill as I cannot now pay any possible future vet bills.

“I am Hon Secretary of the Canine Elpilepsy Support Group and have spent the past 32 years helping thousands of people with epileptic dogs. I am also a healer and work with people and all kinds of animals.

“All I want is security and safety in my house and to spend the rest of my life continuing my work as a registered healer and support for those with epileptic dogs. We are the only charity supporting them.”

One of Anne’s builders, Alex Aird, 35, helped start the fundraiser for Anne after finding out what happened.

He said: “We’re the building contractors working on her property so we’re just trying to help the lady out as much as possible.

“We were instructed by Anne to carry out all the works and put it up to structural condition. We started full renovation works on her property on the understanding that she had the money because she was paying for materials.”

Alex said they asked for a labour deposit after about eight weeks of work but when Anne went to her bank account she saw there was no money there.

“She’s beside herself,” Alex said, adding that he and the other builders want to help Anne get her house back together so she can move on from this awful experience.

He said: “Everyone's got something good to say about her.

“She’s only ever helped people,” he continued, saying it feels ‘soul destroying’ that someone could scam her in this way.

“She’s been stung for £60,000 and even to complete the renovation works it’s going to be about £40,000.

"We’ve set the Crowdfunder at £50,000 for the moment because that would be the emergency budget to be able to pay what’s been done previously and then to go forward to get her actual house rebuilt.”

People can donate to the fundraiser at www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/widowed-79-year-old-disabled-lady-scam-vitim.