Over a Million Euros Later

Well today I am sitting in the dark at 1am in the morning thinking about my immense stupidity. How easily I allowed someone, I hardly knew, to wipe me clean of 30 years working all hours and saving hard.  Any assets I had gone in 2 years! A moments weakness, a short period of fuzzy clouds, a spot in your life when you are not on top of your game and BOOM its all gone. As for my father it was over 50 years of working, saving, being careful that was just blown out of his hands in a second of believing something, some idea someone puts in your head and creates an illusion so wonderful you are totally on board and before you know it BOOM everything you every had is all gone.

It takes a clever person to whip up an idea, create a dream, paint a picture and then scoop all your victims up into your imaginary vision until everyone you need to make it happen is safely trapped inside your evil bubble.  Once inside the bubble your victims have no way out they only see what you want them to see and you continue with your lies, deceit and your imaginary reasons for all the money you need to take from your victims to feed your inferiority complex, your need to feel important and your need to have bigger and better than anyone else.

Once your victims are trapped they become so heavily embroiled in your web of lies and deceit that they do not see a way out.  By this time you have made them feel like they have no choices anymore, will never be able to live without you and need your approval just to breath.

Once you have sucked your victims dry of all money, personality, life and future you vanish in a cloud of lies never to be seen again.

This is what a con artist does.  They create an imaginary life and whoever's life they touch will become involved in this dream world and once in its very hard to get out.  After they have left and you begin to recover and gradually regain the person you were before they seeped into your life, you realise how stupid you were and the feeling of being set free is immense.

I say all this because I wouldn't want anyone to go through what we have and if I can spread the word and help just one person then its worth it.

My father sits, eats and sleeps in one room now.  His kitchen leaks when it rains he has no heating in the bathroom and kitchen there is a hole in the kitchen window where I have tried to cover it with cardboard.  The rain comes in the chimney where the wood burner is and the electrics need sorting out.

The police worked out that David Hitchcock 'The Australian' spent over a million euros of mine and my fathers money.  I was so shocked when they told me that I had to see how they had come up with that figure but sure enough they were right!! From having his name put on my house for nothing to spending all the money from the sale of my house, to spending my daughters criminal injuries compensation and my criminal injuries compensation, plus my Barlcays Shares, plus the money from the sale of my car.  Then there was the money from my fathers house which was around 200,000 euro, the loan for the plane, plus the sale of his car plus all his savings and my mothers savings. We also paid off all his debts and loans and having his name on the farm deeds.  When added up it came to over a million Euros!!

Shocking I know, but the most shocking thing is that I cannot get his name off the house papers.  It takes lots of money, something I do not have anymore.  Plus I found out there is a clause that say if I die he gets the whole farm and he can throw my family out and live in the farm himself.

I do not think I am being mean when I say I do not want to give him anymore money but if I do have his name taken off the house papers I will have to give him half the value of the house.  I feel this is just too much and that he does not deserve a penny more of my families money.  Now I am usually someone who would help anyone out give anyone my last anything but on this occasion I feel so strongly that there is no way I want him to have another cent.

I have yet to find a way to rectify this problem and this is my last task to get him out of my life forever and close the chapter on this really sad stupid pathetic mistake I made. Regret?  Yes I have regret very much so but that is something you cannot live with.  So I made the biggest mistake of my life, but I was suffering from a head injury, going through a court case, a divorce, I was stressed, ill, not thinking straight.  It was the darkest time of my life and so I can't beat myself up too much about it.  I just hope that he doesn't do it to anyone else.

Yearly trip to the Drs

So here I am Wednesday afternoon sitting zombie like on the sofa.  Yesterday I plucked up the courage and went to my Drs.  He is a lovely man very nice looking, kind, caring and bonus on bonus her speaks a bit of English.  well I did my usual 1 to 10 list of ailments and checkups required and yearly tests needed all translated into french with pictures of various parts of the body strategically pasted and saved by the relevant number and armed with my trustee English/French French/English book of medical terms I drove to his office.

The French Drs is nothing like the ones we have in the UK.  You go into a tiny square which is the waiting room 5 chairs and a boxed off toilet with no washing facilities in the corner.  There is no receptionist or flashing light system or number calling you just go in and you then see who is before you and you go in in turn.  In the UK you would definitely get fights breaking out over who was there first and accusations of pushing in! But in France it is a civilized and polite affair and everyone takes their turn.

So there I sit on the noisy stained chair with a couple of families.  One with a boy that obviously had a stomach problem & kept visiting the toilet, the one without a basin and water!  The other with 5 children who where all screaming.

Waiting patiently for my turn I sat reading my English book with one mind on what I had to say to the Dr.  Eventually it was my turn I walked in the room, a small box with very little equipment in it a desk sink and examining bed.  I dutifully gave him a sheet of paper with 1 to 10 and pictures and he gave me his usual smile and read through everything. Telling me then to lie on the bed he took my blood pressure and said 'Bon' then went over to make a prescription out.

So after buying the many boxes of pills and coming home I have spent most of today trying to work out when and why I have to take so many.  I have decided one is an antibiotic one was a sleeping pill one was a relaxant. Well I took the sleeping pill last night and laid awake until 3am.  Then I took the relaxant and have done nothing but sleep today so Im wondering if I have got them muddled up!!

Also in France when you have to have your regular check ups and test for things you have to make the appointments, buy the things needed for it and off you go! Its all very stressful hahahaha

The joys of living in a foreign country

Updated Don't get caught by the 'Gift of the Gab' Part 2

Carrying on from the previous story.  My parents lived in a lovely 5 bedroom house, it was the house I had been born in and we all grew up in this house including my children.

My father built the extension with the help of mum, my sister and me.  Ive never felt so wonderful at 11 when I finally moved into my big bedroom it was a dream come true! This was the house that 'The Australian' persuaded my parents to sell to buy this massive farm in France, and even though they wanted just my name on the deeds he talked them into adding his name saying he would not do any of the renovations unless his name was added.  I also found among his papers he left behind a file where he had applied for a mortgage to buy my parents house and using my house as collateral to secure the balance of the value.  This we knew nothing about.

The plane he forced my father to buy was a Cherokee 4 seater which was supposed to be for joy flights around the area.  Just before he left France never to return he flew the plane to the UK, back to the man who he bought it from and spent many hours talking this decent man into the ground convincing him that he really wanted to own one of the Bently cars this man collected.  This man ended up agreeing to swapping the plane for one of his cars. When he arrived back in France driving the Bently he told my father that someone owed him money and he had taken the car as payment.  He then drove back the UK with the car and returned by train.  We found out he had sold the car for over £5000 and kept the money.  The man who had swapped the car contacted me sometime after and said he was sitting on the toilet one morning reading through his car magazine and was shocked to see his car for sale and completely saddened that he had been taken in by 'the Australian' and realised he was just another one of David's victim.  My father still had two years to pay on the loan for the plane, at £297 per month from his pension, that now belonged to someone else. My father finished paying the the plane end of last year and the total paid was over £18,000. The red van in the picture was also on loan when I met David and he paid it off with the sale of my house another £14,000. It is now roaming around the UK.

The plane (4 seater)

The Bently

The sale of my house paid for all his other toys like jetski, many quad bikes, metal guillotine, lathe, router, forklift, spray painting system etc etc many thousands of euros.  He still has the plane he bought with my money, I did try to get that back but without money for legal costs I had no chance.  I remember him flying it back from the UK when he didn't have the required ratings to fly in the bad weather.  He nearly missed the runway at Poitiers Airport in France and had to have several tries to land.  They sent a letter regarding the danger and there was an inquiry. I had been on the phone to him before he left the UK saying that the cloud was low there was fog and you couldn't see the wind turbines.  He took no notice of me and still took off.  When replying to the official letter he lied in the whole thing making up a plausible story and go away with it like always.  He said he did it as if he had been charged they would have fined him and I would have to pay! He told me that he nearly died on that day as he was close to crashing - not telling who he might have killed if he hadn't made in down safely.

The 6 seater plane bought with the money from my house

All singing all dancing wood machine

Spray unit 

He kept us imprisoned on the farm not allowing us to go out unless absolutely necessary.  If anyone came to visit we would be questioned and interrogated for hours afterwards to make sure we had not told them anything he was doing and they had not spoken about him.  One night he held me in his conversation until 3am in the morning until I was so tired I just agreed to everything he said.  He was the most frightening person you could imagine.  He used his religion to frighten us.  My dear old mum was scared of him and if she saw him coming up to her house she would turn off the fire and panic.  She was disabled and couldn't walk very well but he still gave her lectures shouting at her the her house was filthy and she was just a lazy dirty old lady!! He regularly had us all in tears unable to live up to his standards and expectations.  

You have no idea the relief we all felt when he went and never came back! It was like we had been let out of a nasty bubble.  You do not realise how these people gradually pull you in to their evil life making and molding you into what they want so they can use you for what they want and when they have taken all they can they move on to their next victim.  We were all just shells when he left, drained and tired.  For 3 months I just sat in my Pjs hardly able to breath not knowing what to do I had no money, no job, massive debts and a unfinished house.  

One day I woke up and something inside me said I cannot be like this I have people relying on me to motivate them and get the world moving again for us all.  So I started a business, got registered and got going again.  For the first time in my life I started claiming benefits which I felt really bad about as I had never claimed anything in my life in the UK and now I was in another country I was having to.  My mother was really sick so I had to look after her day and night and did so until she died.  We gradually got ourselves back on the map, selling all the toys he bought and finding our feet.

See it is possible to start again and work your way up.  No matter how bad things seem there is always a glimmer of light in the distance that you can work towards and one day all the problems will be in the past.  Although Im still working though mine but I know it will be over one day.  My biggest problem is still having his name on the deeds of the house this must be rectified one day as I don't feel he deserves any more money from my family. 

Beware don't get caught by the 'Gift of the Gab'

I was laying in bed this morning deep in thought when it dawned on me that I have around 20-30  years left to live (if I'm lucky) and that I will never raise the kind of inheritance again to pass on to my children.  at the age of 40 I had a beautiful house in the UK in a lovely village (the house on the left)

 My beautiful house in the UK

The minute I walked into this house I knew it was home.  I had a wonderful job working in the printing industry, I had a good car and life was ok.  I loved my job I had been in the printing industry for 23 years had an HNC in print technology and a degree in Print Media & Management. I held a bank of international clients, I held monthly meetings with clients, worked on service level agreements, shareholder value and monthly performance reporting.  I just loved my job.  It was in the year of 2004 that my husband told me I had to leave my job as I wasn't getting home early enough to cook his dinner and he wanted me to get a job closer.  I was, at the time, working in Battersea and it was taking me 2 hours to travel to work and 2 hours home, plus I was on call 24/7 .  I managed to get a job locally with a large drop in salary.  I lost my company car, phone & laptop and many thousands is income just to be able to cook him a meal at 7am. I didn't like my new job, it was owned by a man who had built it up from nothing and wouldn't let anyone do their job he wanted control & the last say.  I think I was not really needed and I fought everyday just to keep my head above water and on top of things.  Well In October 2004, just 2 months after starting my new job, my husband attacked me put my head through the banisters of the stairs dragged me through to the living room smashed my head on the coffee table and then proceeded to strangle me.  If my son hadn't jumped on his back I would not her here now.

My Son

My daughter

I spent several weeks with concussion and in bed unable to lift my head off the pillow. I then had to go through a terribly harrowing court case which put my husband in jail and then the divorce which took months and thousands and which he fought all the way ended in court.  I then contracted a really bad case of pneumonia which lasted 2 months and I lost my job.  Can't blame them really as I had been unwell, stressed and unable to function almost all the time I had been there.  This lead me to be without a job no money due to the divorce and a bad case of depression. I then picked myself up and got a job in the Drs surgery cleaning.    They were lovely people and it was a job where I could recover from my stress, head in injury and have a good laugh.  It was at this point a man walked into my life and totally took over.  He pretended to be very religious and God fearing and understanding to my past.  He knew all about what had happened and on his first knock at the door wanted to know if the speed boat outside my house was for sale as he said he did things up and sold them.  Well I wasn't even thinking he could be interested in me but he kept popping around nearly every day.  One time he knocked on my door saying he had had a bad day and wanted to do something nice for me.  Well there he was standing there with a tumble drying in front of him,  he came in and fitted it.  All my friends said he likes me, but I just dismissed the idea as I didn't think I was desirable.  Anyway after he had taken the speed boat, making the arrangement to paint my bathroom for me in return, he then asked me if he could look around in the garage.  I had never met anyone so lovely he couldn't do enough and was going over and above the call of duty for me and my family.  He was a painter and decorator and was originally from Australia.  He said he had married an English girl was had treated him so badly and broke his heart.  He knew (somehow) that I had old british bikes and lots of tools in the garage, it was in fact packed out.

The Australian

he made short work of clearing out the garage with all my ex husbands things, who was in prison at the time, he left a few bits but made sure he got most of it.  In return he said he would paint my house.  He did do some of the work but he never really finished off anything.  By this time he had wormed his way into my parents lives, taking my mum to hospital appointments, when I was unable to.  Taking my dad to town and generally being there for everything.  He told me that anything I wanted to do I had to ask him first and he will sort it or deal with it for me I didn't need think anymore.  Well at the time I was totally in his spell as I was still recovering and have fainting attacks, all due to stress so I found out later, and was told not to drive until they had found out what was causing them.  I was given some strong pills from the Dr for the headaches I was getting,  I didn't realise but I had a reaction them them.  They made me disorientated and dizzy unable to think straight.  He took me to hospital saying I had taken an overdose and he was unable to look after me and that they should keep me in.  They did and found nothing wrong with me as when the pills wore off I was ok. He took all my pills away and told the children I was a drug addict and I had to ask him if I wanted a headache pill as I couldn't be trusted and may take another overdose!! Telling my parents a story and worrying them everyone thought I was on drugs which I wasn't.  He was then taking about maybe we should split my house into two and he could give me half the value of my house move in downstairs move me and my children upstairs and I would have enough money to live on.  I agreed (like an idiot) and put his name on my house for £1 and waited for the money for half the value of the house. It never came.  All his friends wondered why I was still in debt as he had told them all that he had given me half the value and saved a poor single mother and was trying to help me out as much as possible.  He had told me that he would build a couple of rooms in the loft for us but never did so my son had a pull out bed in the kitchen and my bedroom was the living room as well we were totally cramped and broke.  He had us all totally under his control, spell and we were unaware of his ideas and terrible plan.  My mother, thinking he was in love with me and we were going to be together one day, suggested that we all sell our houses and buy a big house in the South of England so in their old age we would be there for them.  As soon as he heard about this he had found a place in France which had two run ways, he was a pilot.  He persuaded my parents that it would be a great idea he would do all the work making a holiday business for us all and we put the money in.  He then remortgaged my house and with the  money he bought a plane, a lorry, quad bikes paid off his debts (which I didnt know he had) his credit cards and loans.  He used £70,000 in a space of a few months.  He then transferred £24,000 to his personal account and when questioned shouted at me that I was mental and didnt know what I was doing and if I cant get sorted he will leave us all.  At the time he had made me feel like I was mental and going mad and on drugs and everything else he could put into my head.  

The lorry

the plane bought with my house money

Cutting a very long story short he had a scary temper used to frighten the kids with talk about the devil coming to get them and if he didn't get his own way would thrash out.  Over the  next few years he spent every penny of mine, my fathers, the childrens.  To the extent that he persuaded my father to buy him a 4 seater plane for client joy flights, my father took out a loan, telling the bank as he ordered him to, that it was for home decorations.  He told my father he would pay the monthly repayments of £297 but paid only one month the rest was paid for by my father and being an honest man was frightened to make a fuss and so ended up paying £18,000 over 4 years out of his pension.  He bought a Chrysler voyager and persuaded my dad to part exchange his new car he had just bought for it and asked dad for a cheque for £3500 for the balance.  He then took my credit card and signed my name for the balance and banked the cheque into his account.  These are just a few account of many that he did over the 3 years he was in our lives.  In September 2009 he left saying he was going to the UK for 3 days work would come back and would send any month he makes back.  He left my parents with no running water as he had cut off their water before he left as there was a leak but didn't fix it.  He had changed all their plugs to UK plugs so when my mother was dying she couldn't have her oxygen plugged in.  We had no heating as all his pipe work had broken.  He had left us with massive bills one for 3 months electric was for 1700 euro.

Mum and dad - last picture before mum came home to be with her family before she died

He told us he was living in the back of his van in the UK, the van which was paid for by the sale of my house.  He told us he had no work he had no money.  We found out from the police that he was living in a flat had remarried and I also found out he owed the tax man around £6000 for that year.  Something you don't get to owe if you have no work.  

A lesson learnt and I hope by telling a short version of my story that it might help other people who might be in a very dark place and have a 'Knight in shining Armour' come into their lives and see too good to be true, well they probably are. Much of what he told us was untrue and even his ex wife contacted me afterwards saying she knew he would do this to us but knew she couldn't warn us as he was so good at talking his way into and out of a paper bag he would twist it around and we wouldn't believe her. 

Since his departure I have started up my own business, caring for animals and houses and portrait drawing.  I lost my mother in July 2010 she died living in one room no heating or running water no money or home comforts but she had her family around her.  I have fought to keep our heads above water and kept optimistic and moving forward.  

Just remember there are impostors out there people pretending to be religious, kind and caring but they are just a shell there is nothing inside no conscience and they are out for all they can get.  People who pray on unfortunate people who are in a bad place they don't care who they hurt, they have the gift of the gab and we feel that we were put under his spell unable to see outside the bubble.  After he left and the shock of what had happened to us over the last three years sunk in we suddenly felt set free and not under control.  

His name is David Hitchcock and he might knock on your door one day please don't fall for his charm.

If anyone feels they are going through the same thing or in a dark place please contact me sometimes its good to talk to someone who understands.

John Lennon

I remember that morning lying in bed in the dark with a little light on radio one playing while I forced myself to wake up.  I used to turn my radio on and put my make up on before I got up as it gave me an extra 10 minutes in bed.   This particular morning I remember hearing the announcement that John Lennon has been shot dead in New York, a place I could only dream of visiting then.  I had family there but had never visited.  I remember feeling so shocked, mascara brush frozen in mid stroke while the terrible news filtered into my brain.  The radio then played several of his songs, one being imagine my ultimate favourite.  This day is as clear now as it was then and one I will never forget.

Jeff Johnson

Well here is a drawing I did a while ago of the very handsome Jeff Johnson.  He works tirelessly in the US and on a Sunday night hosts a very interesting topical radio show called the intersection.  You can view a live stream of it, phone in and have you say, tweet, facebook and generally get involved.  To listen in and get involved just click the link BLIS.FM/TheIntersection  or catch up with all the things he is doing on twitter @JeffsNation

My first female life drawing

Well I got my first female model - I can't say I was inundated with people wanting their body set in pencil! I'm not totally happy with it but as a first its not too bad but I will be hoping to do more so if anyone is interested please do email me your picture.