'˜Â£100 garden work cost me £43,000 thanks to conmen'

Steve Bryant, – who has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) and is battling bowel cancer – lost more than £43,000 to the gang who turned up offering yard clearance services for just £100.

It’s money he is never likely to see again – with specialist fraud officers admitting they have no leads.

What started as an simple offer to undertake garden work spiralled out of control as the group made relentless claims about repairs needed to their victim’s home.

Even when Mr Bryant had reported the crime to the police they continued their heartless push for cash –insisting every penny would be returned if the IT worker paid a one-off sum to ‘free up funds’.

At one stage the 56-year-old was asked for cash immediately following a CT scan - with a drip still in his arm.

The month-long ordeal began in September last year.

“A couple of guys turned up when I was in the front garden offering to clear it for me,” said Mr Bryant, of Lime Grove, St Annes. “It was a little overgrown and they offered to do it for £100.

“It seemed a good price, they were pleasant and reasonable enough.

“They started to do the work and said to me they would do the back as well, which was in a similar state, quoting £1,000.”

Mr Bryant, who worked for IT giant Hewlett Packard before being diagnosed with MS, admits there were warning signs which he initially ignored.

“There were no flyers,” he said. “The van was unmarked, I had no idea where these people had come from.

“Then they started asking for some money.

“At first they said they’d had to buy some specialist kit, then they needed to bring in some more equipment.

“They were asking for money for things I wasn’t sure I ever saw.

“The front and back were cleared but then they told me there were tree roots undermining the foundations.

“I was not convinced because most of the trees around my house are Leylandii which don’t have a lot of roots. I’d not needed to have anything done to the house.