Mother's anger over major investment scam
A mother-of-three who lost thousands of pounds in an investment scam which she had planned to put towards paying off the mortgage has spoke of her upset over what happened.
Crooked financial advisor Mark Lewis admitted 16 charges of defrauding £478,000 from eight victims, from May 2008 to September 2012.
A court heard he promised 'unrealistic' returns on investments in property schemes and solar panels, in some cases up to 25 per cent, but instead pocketed the cash.
And today one of his victims said Lewis 'sweet-talked' her into 'investing' with him.
The 49-year-old from Cheslyn Hay, who did not want to be named, said the £28,000 she invested was the divorce settlement from her husband's previous marriage.
"We'd waited 11 years for it, and it was in our hands for less than two weeks," she said.
"Mark said we could make a good return really quickly for us so we invested it with him. I told him we needed the money back by October because I had to change our mortgage plan. He said 'no problem.'"
Lewis, 50, was originally a partner in a legitimate mortgage advice business in Cannock but after setting up on his own he began conning people.
He claimed their cash would be invested in properties that would be renovated and sold on at a profit. Only one property was ever bought. Several of his victims watched at Stafford Crown Court as he was sentenced to more than six years in jail. He had initially faced 39 charges of fraud totalling £2.2million but not guilty charges were recorded against those.
His Cheslyn Hay victim said she did not want to be named because of the 'embarrassment' she felt over being duped by Lewis, of Oakdene Close, Hednesford.
"I don't want our neighbours to know how stupid we've been. You feel shame. You just feel why didn't someone, somewhere say something.
"We thought he always looked so smart, he drove the latest big Audi cars, we thought he must know what he's doing."
And she said: " He should be made to serve the full sentence. I couldn't go to the court because I couldn't bear to look at him.
"I'd known Mark for 12 years, he'd done all our mortgages for us, we went to birthday parties at his house.
"How on earth could he do this to us.
"He knew from day one that we were never going to get our money back"
