Ex-partner of internet dating scam victim attacks 'vultures'

Philip Hunt, 58, of St Catherine's Court, Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire, met a "young and beautiful woman" calling herself Rose via a website and paid out the money to help her come to the UK from Nigeria to start a new life with him.

But, within months, Mr Hunt, who suffered from depression and had two failed marriages, had "insurmountable debts". He took his own life near Hessle, East Yorkshire, in August last year.

Yesterday, a jury at an inquest in Hull took 15 minutes to return a verdict of suicide.

Speaking after the verdict, Mr Hunt's former girlfriend of around three years, Lesley Smith, condemned the fraudsters.

"These people are out to get people when they are very vulnerable and at a low ebb. They're in there like vultures," Ms Smith said. "Philip was a very gentle gentleman, very quiet and reserved and very intelligent, which hearing the story today you find unbelievable – but he was at a low ebb and it gets people at their most vulnerable."

Det Ch Insp Danny Snee, of British Transport Police, said Mr Hunt had met "Rose" on a website in December 2008 and communicated with her through e-mails and texts.

He was also sent a photograph of a woman purporting to be Rose and told Ms Smith he had met a "woman who was young and beautiful" and that "amazing things" were happening in his life.

Mr Hunt was asked to help transfer 2.9 million US dollars into the UK through customs, which he was led to believe would be used to help him and Rose build a life together in this country.

On one occasion, he travelled to a hotel near City Airport in London, where two men took what appeared to be a dirty piece of paper from a case and covered it in a solution, making it appear to turn into a 100 dollar bill. They told him they needed money to convert the remainder of the notes in the case.

Mr Hunt subsequently remortgaged his house and took out loans and overdrafts to pay for various alleged costs, including medical treatment for Rose who he was told was starving to death and suffering from malaria.

He also asked to borrow around 25,000 from his employer, a shipping company at Immingham Docks, but later retracted the request and resigned shortly afterwards.

His last contact with the scam was in June 2009 and he died on August 13 when he was hit by a train.

An unsent text message to Rose was found on his mobile phone after his death.

It read: "I hurt all over, I'm stiff, I'm cold, angry, depressed, so lonely without you. Tonight I go to meet my maker."

Det Chief Insp Snee told the inquest yesterday that Mr Hunt left a bundle of documents in his home containing information about the scam and marked for the attention of the police.

The inquest heard that he also left a number of notes and sent text messages implying he would take his own life.

Mr Snee said the internet scam was known by various names, including the Nigerian Fraud or the Romance Scam, and involves inviting the victim to advance sums of money for a particular reason with the promise of significant gain later.

"Mr Hunt fell victim to the romance angle. He was clearly hoping for a relationship with Rose and they would then share the benefits of the money," the detective said.

"I think it is clear there was never to be a relationship and Mr Hunt was never to enjoy vast sums of money."

Speaking after the inquest, Det Chief Insp Snee said Mr Hunt had been "bled dry" by the scam.

"The cause of Mr Hunt's death is due to the insurmountable debts which had clearly been caused by the scam which Mr Hunt had been victim to, which makes it all the more tragic," he said.