An elderly woman was fleeced out of her life savings by a Dudley window cleaner who wanted the cash to pay off his drug debts, a court was told.

Darren Martine, aged 30, from High Oak Road, Pensnett, tricked his 89-year-old victim out of £40,000.

He was jailed for three years at Wolverhampton Crown Court after admitting obtaining money by deception and fraudulently making a false representation.

Heroin addict Martine charged the pensioner £12,000 for odd jobs he carried out on her home that should have cost no more than £3,000, the court heard.

Read the full story in the Express & StarAn elderly woman was fleeced out of her life savings by a Dudley window cleaner who wanted the cash to pay off his drug debts, a court was told.

Darren Martine, aged 30, from High Oak Road, Pensnett, tricked his 89-year-old victim out of £40,000.

He was jailed for three years at Wolverhampton Crown Court after admitting obtaining money by deception and fraudulently making a false representation.

Heroin addict Martine charged the pensioner £12,000 for odd jobs he carried out on her home that should have cost no more than £3,000, the court heard.Miss Kanwal Juss, prosecuting, said Martine inflated his prices above their true value charging £100 for a tube of adhesive that cost him just £2.

When the old woman became suspicious Martine said he would pay back the money if she helped him clear his debts and he then conned her out of thousands of pounds over a seven month period, said Miss Juss.

Judge Nicholas Webb said: “Her life has been badly affected by your callousness. This was the exploitation of an old lady for what you thought were easy pickings.”

Martine was finally arrested when the pensioner asked her neighbours if she could borrow £600 – money demanded by the conman who took cash off her on 30 occasions.

She now has just £4,000 left from her life savings.

Mr Mark Jackson defending said Martine had been addicted to Class A drugs since he was 13 and he accepted what he had done was “mean and unpleasant.”

He said he had debts to his dealer in excess of £30,000 and he was now living under the constant threat of violence having been badly beaten up while being held on remand in prison.

By Heather Loat