A single mother from Oxford has described how she was "groomed" by a man who swindled her out of almost £56,000.

The 38-year-old Headington woman, who has asked not to be named, spoke out to warn other women not to fall for the same fraud.

Police last night also released details about the thief — Eric Fretten — to try to stop him from striking again.

The mother-of-three said: "He was getting my trust by doing nice things like taking me out for dinner. He convinced me he was a financial and mortgage expert and everything he did was believable. Looking back, he groomed me.

"My money has all gone. You cannot describe how vulnerable and stupid this makes you feel. Now all the money I had set aside for a home for me and my three children to live in has gone."

She said Fretten overheard a conversation she had while shopping in Headington earlier this year. He claimed to be interested in helping to invest her divorce payment in a mortgage scheme.

But within three months, he had talked her out of £55,900 by wooing her with confidence tricks, fake stories, bogus company details, expensive meals and tickets to the ballet.

And, despite police being informed and a private investigator looking into the case, he has still not been caught.

"It may sound stupid but I completely trusted him. I thought he was my friend," she said.

"He was a 61-year-old guy. I didn't think he could be a conman."

The scam started in February when she told friends in a London Road shop about her plans to invest the divorce settlement in property.

Fretten introduced himself and claimed to be a mortgages expert. He advised her not to put the money in one account, but use a high-interest account in Switzerland and offered to assist.

Within weeks he persuaded her to go with him to Lloyds TSB Bank, at Templars Square shopping centre, in Cowley, where she transferred £5,000 into his account.

By May she had handed over £54,900 including one single payment of £34,000.

The man, who claimed to be the director of a finance company in Knightsbridge, also asked her to put £1,000 deposit as part of a joint venture on a house in Iffley.

She got suspicious when he did not pay his share and confronted him.

"He kept avoiding me and not answering my calls. When I did get hold of him he said the money was being transferred from three different accounts or he was driving to London to get it," she said.

"He was making up lies and the money never arrived."

She never saw him again.

CONMAN HUNT

Police are seeking information about a man who uses the name Eric Walter Fretten.

The 61-year-old, who tells people he is in his mid-50s, used to live in Cowley Road, Oxford, but his registered address is a mailbox number at Mailbox Etc, in London Road, Headington.

He is 6ft tall, overweight, with grey or white hair swept back, with a reddish complexion. He wears old-fashioned style glasses and diamond rings on his fingers.

He drives prestige cars and speaks with a East London accent but has connections with Birmingham.

His name is registered to a number of companies, including a finance firm in Belgravia and Knightsbridge in London and a communications company in Birmingham. He may be using a fake name.

Call Det Insp Simon Morton, of Oxford CID, on 08458 505505 or speak anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.