Female fraudster, 63, 'bled dry' an Army veteran as part of a £200,000 con - and now the pensioner faces jail

A fraudster who conned an Army veteran and a company boss out of £200,000 is facing jail.

Agnes Hewitt, 63, spun a web of lies which led to former soldier George Ross and businessman Michael Dooley handing over huge sums of cash.

Hewitt posed as a legal expert who told Mr Ross she could handle an employment dispute with the Royal British Legion around 2011.

She demanded payment for lawyers and sent fake paperwork before telling him the case had settled for £501,000. No money arrived and Mr Ross became seriously ill and died in June 2019.

Hewitt had demanded £10,000 as he lay in hospital. His family alerted the police who found she had taken £52,684.

Agnes Hewitt, 63, (pictured) spun a web of lies which led to former soldier George Ross and businessman Michael Dooley handing over huge sums of cash

Investigators also found Hewitt had conned Mr Dooley and his wife Clare, from Dalkeith, Midlothian, out of almost £140,000 during a dispute with another director at their firm, Strathkelvin Instruments.

Wheelchair-bound Hewitt, of Bellshill, Lanarkshire, denied all wrongdoing but jurors convicted her of obtaining £192,649 by fraud between 2012 and 2018, following a four-day trial at Hamilton Sheriff Court.

Mr Ross’s widow Ann said: ‘My husband was a veteran and for someone to do that, taking every penny, is disgraceful.

‘My husband was crying his eyes out on the phone to her in the hospital and he said to her ‘you have bled me dry and taken every penny’.’

Hewitt posed as a legal expert who told Mr Ross she could handle an employment dispute with the Royal British Legion around 2011. Pictured: Hamilton Sheriff Court

Mr Dooley, 55, of Bathgate, West Lothian, told depute fiscal Aga Mathieson that he had paid for legal costs. But years passed before he found no court case existed.

He said: ‘At the end of the day I was conned and I have to hold my hands up and say again that I was conned.’

Sheriff Linda Nicolson deferred sentence for reports and continued bail. She warned Hewitt: ‘You have been convicted of two serious charges and it might be the case that a custodial sentence cannot be avoided.’

Female fraudster, 63, ‘bled dry’ an Army veteran as part of a £200,000 con – and now the pensioner faces jail