A WOMAN has told how she ended up in court after falling for a conman who claimed he was the son of an Italian viscount with a massive inheritence.

As reported in the Guardian last week, Gail Heyworth was left with a criminal record and more than £15,000 in debt after falling for fraudster Paul Marsden who spun a complicated web of lies to deceive her and fund his champagne lifestyle.

For a decade 44-year-old Gail, of Baguley Crescent, Rhodes had no idea her perfect partner was in fact a fantasist with a number of different identities living a secret life staying in luxurious hotels and buying posh clothes.

She only discovered his lies when she was arrested after Marsden convinced her to put a £7,500 cheque - part of his supposed inheritance - into her bank account.

It was then Gail found out the family fortune was in reality a bank loan which he'd applied for fraudulently in her name using her bank details and wage slips to steal her identity. He even faked her voice when he phoned the finance firm to get the loan.

Ms Heyworth, a psychiatric nursing assistant, first met Marsden in 1994.

He told her he was the orphan of a viscount from Naples called Franco Dibella III and in the future was due to inherit a fortune from his Italian family.

Marsden, 38, soon moved into her flat and began spending vast amounts of her money despite not having a job of his own.

Over the years, to fund his champagne lifestyle Marsden also claimed to be a computer consultant to get a loan to buy a luxury car, preyed on Gail's father - while all the time claiming state benefit under another name.

But just before Marsden got his hands on another £20,000 loan police officers working to uncover his web of deceit closed the net and he was arrested last year.

Marsden was jailed for 16 months after he pleaded guilty to 14 sample fraud charges between 1998 and 2004 at Bolton Crown Court last week.

Ms Heyworth also pleaded guilty at Bolton to aiding and abetting the electronic transfer of money by deception and was given a conditional discharge for two years.

After the case she revealed how Marsden had shattered her trust in people.

She said: "I'm just so angry. I was completely conned. I'm a very caring person and I loved him so much at the time. There were no tell-tale signs he just knew how to manipulate people. He was funny and he made me laugh and I fell for him but he conned me, stole from me and put me in danger.

She has since visited Howarth in prison, but will not let him back into her life.

She said: "You can't just forget someone after 10 years - it's not as easy as that. But the whole experience has been extremely stressful for me and my family. I'm just so angry. I was completely conned.

"I don't know what's fact and what's fiction anymore. I never saw any of the money that he obtained."

"I don't know how he spent it or where it went. I was giving him a roof over his head and paying for everything but instead he's just left me with lots of debt."