A pensioner with learning disabilities says he has been conned out of more than GBP28,000 by a group of women. KATE SKELTON and SARAH GILLETT report In less than a year, Cyril Hallam gave away all his life savings… but he didn’t stop there.

His family say he then took out loans to meet demands from three women who allegedly told him he would lose his home if he failed to pay up.

Mr Hallam, 69, who was left with brain damage after contracting measles as a child, is well known in his home town of Sutton-in-Ashfield, where he has worked as a window cleaner for more than 50 years.

His brother-in-law, retired police officer John Phillips said: “He’s extremely vulnerable and takes everybody at their word.

“He is such a pleasant man and has never been known to utter even the mildest swear word.” Mr Hallam, who has lived on his own since his father died 11 years ago, said he first met one of the women on his rounds just after Easter last year.

“I’d seen her around before but it was the first time I’d spoken to her properly,” he said.

“I told her I didn’t get many visitors and she said she would come round and see me.” The woman visited Mr Hallam on several occasions, along with one of her friends.

After a few visits, Mr Hallam said one of the women asked if he could lend her GBP600 for a new three-piece suite. He reluctantly agreed but the women continued to ask him for more money.

He added: “They’d said they’d pay me back with giro cheques but that they needed extra money to process the cheques.” On one occasion, a woman rang claiming to be from Social Services and told Mr Hallam if he did not pay the money they would stop his pension.

Between April and May last year Mr Hallam paid out GBP3,000, but eventually told his sister Mavis and brother-in-law John Phillips.

The police were contacted and a woman was arrested but released without charge due to lack of evidence. The family also contacted Nottingham Building Society in Sutton.

Mr Hallam’s family thought the demands had stopped at this point. But two weeks ago, they found out the women had taken a further GBP25,000.

Mr Phillips, of Ruddington, claims a third woman had contacted Mr Hallam in July claiming to be a solicitor for the woman who was arrested.

Mr Phillips said: “She told him he was responsible for getting the woman arrested and that he would be taken to court.

“She said they were prepared to settle out of court for a sum of around GBP20,000.” Building society staff refused to give Mr Hallam the full amount, telling him he could only withdraw GBP250 each day.

Mr Hallam would meet a woman in an alleyway every day to hand the money over. By November the account, which had contained GBP23,000, was drained. He claims that once it was empty, the women pressured him into take out loans of more than GBP2,000.

A catalogue account was also created for his address and he paid bills for goods that had been ordered.

The family were only alerted when neighbour of Mr Hallam’s phoned to say he was borrowing money from friends.

Mr Philips had contacted the Financial Ombudsman after the original GBP3,000 was taken. The ombudsman investigated and found the building society had done nothing wrong.

But he is planning to contact the ombudsman again now the true scale of the matter has become clear.

Mr Hallam has no money and will have to sell the home left to him by his father.

Mr Hallam said: “I’m just glad it’s all over. I feel happier now people know.” A police spokesperson said: “We can confirm we are investigating an allegation of irregular financial activity in conjunction with Nottingham Building Society.” The Nottingham’s chief executive, Ian Rowling, said: “We have to act in accordance with our customers’ instructions. If there are irregular transactions our routine monitoring will pick it up and we will make further inquiries.

“If a third party raises concerns we can’t act upon them without authority from either our account holder or the court.

“What we can do, and did in this case, was to advise Mr Phillips to contact the police. He did and we have been co-operating with them ever since. This included notifying the police as transactions were made.” He would not say whether this contact with Mr Phillips was in relation to the GBP3,000 or the GBP23,000 being withdrawn.

But Mavis Phillips, Cyril’s sister, said: “They did not contact us the second time.” kate.skelton@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk

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