A con man tricked a forgetful war veteran with Alzheimer’s disease into believing that he was a family friend before swindling him out of hundreds of pounds of his savings before he died.

Father-of-two Norman Harris, 96, had lived with his wife Mary, 94, who suffered from dementia for 30 years at their family home in Corkran Road, Surbiton.

Daughter Cally Harris, 67, noticed the deceit when she saw payments regularly coming out of the account she managed for her father as well as cash she gave him disappearing quickly.

Five cheques went through leaving Mr Harris £560 out of pocket – although Miss Harris suspected that cash had also been taken along with other items.

Miss Harris said: “I don’t know how this man found out daddy was a vulnerable person.

"That’s the £64,000 question. I was so worried that whoever was responsible might march him down to the bank to cash some money.

"The police were really supportive.

“People who behave like that, it’s shameless and it made the last year of my father’s life awful and stressful.

"He could not always remember but I could not relax. It just made everything that much more difficult.”

Police cameras tracking who went in and out of the home were put up outside the gated property, which helped to picture Boswell, who was later arrested in central London using number plate detection.

Boswell, 53, of Sefton Road, Epsom had previously scammed another Alzheimer’s sufferer from Raynes Park out of £15,000 over two years.

He was sentenced to 21 months and 18 months in prison concurrently for two charges of fraud by false representation at Kingston Crown Court earlier this month.

Mr Harris, a former squadron leader at the Royal Air Force and former quantity surveyor, died in October last year and his wife who he had been married to for 70 years followed five months later.

Anguished phone calls of confused pensioner

Miss Harris said: "Daddy was getting forgetful. I thought he had gone and paid something twice.

"But then I saw the name Thomas Boswell. I thought who is this man?

"Daddy said he is the son of the old lady that used to work here.

"But I said no...no old lady used to work here. What old lady? He could not remember.

"It was just a line that had been said to him. I kept telling him daddy don't let this man in.

"All his marbles were there but he had a terrible short-term memory. It really ruined our last few months.

"When I asked what the man had done he just said odd jobs. I would say what jobs? We already have cleaners, carers and a gardener.

"It was very sad. He would just say 'I'm sorry. I just dont remember'.

"I was at home working and I got a phone call and it was daddy. He said 'have you got my cheque book? I asked 'who was it for'? I heard him saying 'I'm so sorry. I have forgotten your name'."

Lies of conman

Kingston police and Merton police carried out a joint investigation to find the conman who had preyed on the two elderly victims.

Detective constable Steve Parker from Kingston police, said: "We were alerted by the victim’s family – he did not realise there was a problem.

"We are not quite sure how Boswell came to know the victim.

“He denied it at first and then pleaded guilty later.

"There was a lot of financial investigation to be done for this case. But this sends out a message that although offences like this can be difficult to prove – it is not impossible.

"I am hopeful that this can go some way to deter other people who prey on other victims.”

The police are now working on confiscation proceedings to show how Boswell benefited by more than £70,000 from his crimes.