Cleaner forced to accept £188,000 Halesowen house, jury told.
An elderly blind man in his 90s, whose money bought a £188,000 house for his cleaner, called their trips to the bank the 'Bonnie and Clyde' run, a jury heard.
Veronica Robinson explained while giving evidence to Wolverhampton Crown Court: "He would say lets do a Bonnie and Clyde. He used to refer to me as his body guard, so nobody would attack and rob him."
The size of his cash withdrawals increased towards the end of 2013 when she started accompanying him to his HSBC branch, the court heard.
The 61-year-old defendant said: "It was his decision how much he withdrew. I wouldn't have a clue what he was spending the money on. It was none of my business."
He bought Robinson - who was living in rented accommodation at the time - a £188,000 house in Beecher Street, Halesowen which she moved into in January 2015.
She explained: "He did not want to be put in a nursing home. I said out of my heart 'live with me.' I was talking way into the future but he was talking in the present time. He was insistent on buying me a house and wanted only my name on the deeds."
The couple had met in the summer of 2013 after she started to work as an £8.50p-an-hour cleaner for the couple who lived opposite his Black Country home.
Robinson said her relationship with the man developed after she started doing his ironing and driving him about. He referred to her by her middle name of Sue.
She told the court: "He was very charming and we obviously got on. We got closer and became friends. It gradually built up. We just clicked."
Prosecutor Mr Mark Jackson has claimed that Robinson and her 66-year-old friend Robert Homer deliberately isolated the wealthy man from friends and family so she could get control of his money.
Robinson, of High Haden Road, Cradley Heath, denies fraud by abuse of position and attempting to pervert the course of justice. Her partner Robert Homer pleads not guilty to aiding and abetting the fraud and false representation. The case continues.
