Ben McPartland AN 87-year-old blind woman, who was swindled out of her home and life savings by a cruel conman, has told the Ham&High she wants to know justice has been done before she dies. It was revealed this week that Danish-born fraudster Mogens Haus

Ben McPartland

AN 87-year-old blind woman, who was swindled out of her home and life savings by a cruel conman, has told the Ham&High she wants to know justice has been done before she dies.

It was revealed this week that Danish-born fraudster Mogens Hauschildt, 68, is on the run with around �1million belonging to widow Pamela Schutzmann, who has been left penniless.

Hauschildt posed as a financial adviser to strip Ms Schutzmann of her assets including her home on Finchley Road and around �400,000 worth of her savings. He then fled the country before he could be jailed and was convicted in his absence of several counts of fraud and deception by a jury last year. He is believed to be living in the South of France.

Registered blind, Ms Schutzmann, who has a son Vivian, 61, and two grandchildren, said: "How can you let this man run around free? He is probably doing this to someone else, picking on some other poor victim.

"I have periods when I go through great stress - then I tell myself I have to get out of it and keep with it, because I don't want to die without him being caught.

"It is not even the money. It is what he has done to me. This was a person I trusted and now I don't trust anyone.

"I just want to see justice done. The victim always seems to be second best and I think if I was going to get justice they would have arrested him a long time ago."

Hauschildt became friends with the widow after marrying her former au-pair Romana Labunski, who has since died. He forged signatures so that Ms Schutzmann's �500,000 Finchley Road home, where she has lived for 50 years, was re-mortgaged by Bank of Scotland.

He then transferred the house to his own company Spazi Properties, based in Panama.

Despite Hauschildt's conviction Ms Schutzmann has still not had the house transferred back into her name.

She said: "I just realised one day that something was wrong. I smelled a rat. He was looking after my finances supposedly but when I wanted some money from him he could not give it to me. He has got my house and my money. All the documents that went through the court were all falsified and that is why I cannot understand why I cannot get the house back.

"I want my son to have this house when I die. I want what belongs to me back. The bank should never have allowed this to happen."

At Southwark Crown Court on Monday the case against Alexander Hauschildt, 29, who was accused of helping his stepfather in the scam, was dropped by prosecutors.

But the court heard the bank, now Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS), was resisting attempts to have the property transferred back into Ms Schutzmann's name.

A spokeswoman for Camden Police said: "A warrant has been issued in relation to Mogens Hauschildt and enquiries are ongoing with the French authorities. Numerous attempts have been made to apprehend him and he is being looked for throughout Europe."

A spokeswoman for HBOS said: "As this matter is subject to litigation it is inappropriate to comment at this time. However, we are very keen to work with Ms Schutzmann to find a resolution in this case.