A 69-year-old widow who lost up to £1 million in a series of romance scams died from injuries sustained in a car crash in Ghana, an inquest has heard.
Janet Fordham, a retired housekeeper from Honiton, Devon, suffered fatal head injuries following a road traffic collision on 14 February 2023. She had travelled to Ghana intending to marry a man she met online, who had claimed he could help her recover money lost to fraud.
Proceedings at Devon Coroner’s Court revealed that Mrs Fordham had been targeted by multiple scams over a five-year period, ultimately losing her life savings and her home. By the time of her trip, she had been living in a caravan at the residence of her son and daughter-in-law.
Mrs Fordham began using online dating platforms in 2017, where she encountered a man posing as a British Army sergeant major stationed in Syria. He persuaded her to send significant sums of money under the pretext of transporting gold bars to the United Kingdom. Her daughter-in-law, Melanie Fordham, testified that the family had warned her against sending funds, but later discovered she had transferred approximately £150,000.
Subsequently, Mrs Fordham fell victim to another fraud involving an individual claiming to be a diplomat. Despite interventions by banks and the post office, which restricted her financial transactions after identifying suspicious activity, she continued to send money through alternative means, including cryptocurrency and cash withdrawals.
A third individual, identifying himself as “Kofi,” later contacted Mrs Fordham, alleging he had discovered evidence of the earlier scams on a mobile phone. He claimed to be a doctor in Ghana and offered assistance in recovering her losses. Despite police warnings over several years urging her to cease contact with suspected fraudsters, Mrs Fordham continued her communications.
Her family suggested she may have been unable to accept the extent of her financial losses, continuing to send money in the hope of recovery. In addition to exhausting her savings, she borrowed approximately £140,000 from relatives, accrued significant debt, and withdrew her pension in daily increments.
In October 2022, Mrs Fordham travelled to Ghana to meet Kofi, with whom she had developed a romantic relationship. Her family made extensive efforts to dissuade her, including seeking medical and legal advice. However, she was deemed to have the mental capacity to make her own decisions.
At the time of the accident, Mrs Fordham and Kofi were travelling from Accra to the Oti Region to seek family approval for marriage when their vehicle left the road. No other parties were involved in the crash. Kofi later pleaded guilty to driving offences and received a suspended prison sentence and a fine.
Delivering his conclusion, Senior Coroner Philip Spinney stated that Mrs Fordham died as a result of a head injury sustained in the collision.
