A widow died in a car crash in Ghana after losing up to £1m in several romance frauds that saw her lose her life savings and home, an inquest heard.

Janet Fordham, 69, suffered fatal injuries in the collision on 14 February 2023 after coming to the country to marry a Ghanaian man she met online, who claimed he could help her get the money back.

Mrs Fordham had fallen victim to several online scams during a five-year period that saw her lose her home and life savings, estimated to be up to £1m, Devon Coroner's Court heard.

When she travelled to Ghana, the retired housekeeper was living in a caravan at the home of her son, Martin, and daughter-in-law, Melanie Fordham, in Honiton, Devon.

She started using online dating websites in 2017 and met a man who claimed to be a British Army sergeant major working in Syria and needed her help to get gold bars to the UK.

Mrs Fordham told her family that they were in love and that he was retiring to return to the UK, with the couple wanting to buy a house together, her daughter-in-law said, adding that she warned her the man would be asking for money.

Melanie Fordham added: "I told her categorically not to send him any. Janet had been sending money to him, but we didn't find out about this until years later. I believe she gave him around £150,000."

Mrs Fordham later learned she had been defrauded again by a "diplomat" after her UK bank accounts were frozen, but her family said they don't know how she transitioned from one fraud to the next.

Melanie Fordham said her mother-in-law "transferred money by several means, including bank transfers, wire transfers at the post office, and potentially a travel agent", but the banks and post office stopped her mother-in-law from using their services because they recognised it was fraud.

Third man promised to help recover funds

The inquest heard another man, named Kofi, contacted Mrs Fordham, claiming he was a doctor in Ghana who worked part-time at a friend's mobile phone repair shop, where he supposedly found a phone containing messages to and from Mrs Fordham.

Kofi claimed he contacted Mrs Fordham because he believed she had been scammed and wanted to help get her money back, Melanie Fordham said.

Police spoke to Mrs Fordham about Kofi, but officers could not further the investigation as she failed to respond.

Detective Sergeant Ben Smith, of Devon and Cornwall Police, said officers contacted Mrs Fordham about allegations of fraud in 2017, 2020 and 2022 and tried to persuade her "not to have any contact with the criminals and not to hand over money", but she was making these decisions of her own free will.

Mrs Fordham continued to transfer money abroad using Bitcoin and ATMs, causing her daughter-in-law to contact the police again.

"Whether she was in so deep, she couldn't accept it was all gone, she had to keep piling money in the hope of getting something back," Melanie Fordham said.

"Whether she genuinely believed what she was being told, we will never know."

Apart from using her savings and home, Mrs Fordham also borrowed money from other family members, totalling around £140,000, was in arrears on loans and credit cards and even cashed in her pension, withdrawing the maximum £500 a day.

Flying to Ghana for marriage

In October 2022, Mrs Fordham flew to Ghana to meet Kofi, with whom she was romantically linked.

"As a family, we tried everything to stop her, but she was adamant," Melanie Fordham said. "I spoke to her doctor, sought legal advice, but because she was of sound mind, albeit brainwashed, she was deemed to have capacity and there was nothing we could do."

In Ghana, Mrs Fordham and Kofi were driving from Accra to the Oti region "to get approval from a family member for marriage" when their car left the road and crashed, fatally injuring Mrs Fordham, Mr Smith told the inquest.

He said that there was no third-party involved in the smash.

Kofi later pleaded guilty to driving offences and was handed a suspended prison sentence and a fine.

Philip Spinney, senior coroner for Devon, Plymouth and Torbay, said at the end of the hearing: "I conclude that Janet Fordham died as a consequence of a head injury that was probably sustained in a road traffic collision."

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British Woman Dies in Ghana Road Crash After Losing £1m in Romance Scam

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