Midlothian widow left in dire straits after conwoman targeted dying soldier

A Midlothian widow was left in dire straits, forced to appeal to a charity for funds to cover her soldier husband's funeral costs after a deceitful fraudster, posing as a lawyer, swindled him out of their life savings.

Agnes Hewitt spun a web of lies to George Ross, an army veteran, assuring him she could secure a £500,000 payout from an employment dispute, only to pilfer more than £50,000 from him and even demanding an additional £10,000 while he was gravely ill in hospital.

Moreover, Hewitt duped another couple into parting with £140,000 of their personal funds, falsely promising them a windfall of millions from a legal case.

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The 63-year-old from Bellshill, Lanarkshire, faced justice last month when she was sentenced to three years' imprisonment after being convicted of defrauding victims of £192,649 between January 2012 and December 2018.

The devastating consequences of her elaborate ruse and fraudulent claims of being a high-powered solicitor have now come to light, reports the Daily Record.

George's wife, Agnes Ross, courageously alerted the authorities upon overhearing Hewitt's phone call to her husband in the hospital, where she was pressuring him for £10,000.

The 69-year-old recounted the harrowing experience: "He was crying down the phone to her saying 'you've bled me dry.

"I knew something wasn't right, I shouted on a nurse and told her to ring the police.

"She took everything he had.

"After he died I didn't even have enough money to bury him.

"I will never forgive that woman for what she did. Not only did she rob us of our life savings, she robbed me of my husband. If she hadn't put so much pressure on George, I believe he would still be here today."

The police later found out that Hewitt had ripped off George, who had been diagnosed with dementia, to the tune of £52,684.

She lied to him about a supposed £501,000 settlement for an employment dispute he'd had with the Royal British Legion.

Sadly, George, from Dalkeith, Midlothian, who left the army in 1993 and worked for the Legion for 25 years, passed away in 2019 before he could see justice done.

The armed forces charity SSAFA, Poppy Scotland, and the DWP all contributed towards George's £2000 funeral costs.

Agnes said: "She knew he had dementia.

"She was taking money off George for a tribunal that didn't even exist.

"She lied about everything, she even lied about her own husband being dead.

"Now my house is falling down around me and I can't afford the repairs. She stole everything we had."

The Sunday Mail has uncovered how Hewitt listed herself as a 'solicitor' on her marriage certificate in 2018 but has never been registered as a Scottish solicitor under either her maiden or married name.

Falsely claiming to be a solicitor is a criminal offence.

In 2017, Hewitt, who used to be an advocate of Peninsula Business Services of Manchester, appeared at Hamilton Sheriff Court and admitted embezzling £11,000 from her employers between April 2012 and March 2013. She was initially accused of embezzling £16,360 but admitted to a revised charge and was sentenced to 120 hours of unpaid work.

Hewitt encountered Michael Dooley from Bathgate, West Lothian, through Peninsula when he was embroiled in a dispute with another director at his company.

Once the tribunal was resolved and the case won, Hewitt informed Michael that the other director had violated a legal agreement by making threats, necessitating further court action.

She claimed he had initiated an intellectual property lawsuit against the company and persuaded him to cover the legal fees himself.

Michael, 55, said: "She had left Peninsula but could assist us.

"I paid her £500 to start proceedings but costs then grew and grew. She was very convincing and sent fake paperwork, named lawyers, legal process, judges and was knew what she was talking about.

"What supposedly started at the sheriff court ended up at the Court of Session court where she enlisted a barrister and needed money for that.

"We were told the other side would have to pay £350,000 and it was guaranteed.

"In the end she told us we were owed £3.6milion."

However, no money came through which led Michael and his wife Clare - who run Strathkelvin Instruments Ltd - to grow suspicious.

They approached courts in Edinburgh but were informed that no such case existed.

Clare discovered an online article exposing Hewitt as an embezzler and in November 2017, the couple staged a sting operation and confronted her.

After denying the scam they never heard from her again and contacted police who discovered Hewitt had taken £139,965 from them from December 2013 to November 2017.

Mum-of-three Clare, 51, said: "She bombarded us with phone calls and called Michael at length every day for seven years, there was no let up, no escape."

"Whenever we wanted to drop the case, she would say 'it's for your kids. You owe it to them to secure their future. Every single spare penny, we had and sometimes didn't have, she wanted."

"Hewitt told us multiple stories about her husband needing a heart transplant, where he was ready for a new heart but at the last minute it wasn't viable."

"It has been horrendous, the stress and heartache she has caused."

After Hewitt was convicted last month, Sheriff Linda Nicolson (CORR) called her conduct "parasitic and deplorable'."

A spokeswoman for Peninsula said Hewitt was employed as a legal services consultant but not as a solicitor and was suspended when the allegations were made.