Daill Mail - 08.08.2019

Daily Mail, Thursday, August 8, 2019 Page 11

memory. At the end of the evening,

he said, “So what do you think I

really do?” I replied, “I think

you’re a secret agent.”

‘He walked me to my car and

before I knew it, he had one hand

up my dress and the other down it

saying, “I want you so much and

you know you want it too.” ’

The following day, Acklom made

a spontaneous visit to her home:

‘I was wearing jeans and walking

boots when he phoned to say, “I’ve

got to see you. What’s your

address?” I thought, “He can take

me as he finds me. I won’t change

because there’s no way I am tak-

ing my clothes off.” ’

Within minutes Acklom had

stripped off. ‘I told him to get

dressed but he didn’t,’ she said.

‘I’ve never behaved like that

before but I thought, “Seize the

moment. Have a bit of fun.” ’

Over the next month, Acklom

took her to Cotswold Airport to

‘show her his fleet of aeroplanes’ –

which he did not own. He drove

her to London to see the ‘MI

office’ where he worked. ‘

‘I was left in the car with his

driver while he walked in through

a back entrance, past two armed

guards,’ she recalls. ‘It was con-

vincing. He very quickly had me

completely under his control. One

of my daughters thought I had

been brainwashed.’

By February that year, Miss

Woods had proposed to the appar-

ently charming Acklom.

Charles Thomas, prosecuting,

told the court: ‘It is clear that

Carolyn Woods was frankly swept

off her feet by this man. He was

charming, he was single and he

was successful.’

Acklom falsely claimed to have

connections to a number of well-

known figures, including

broadcaster Chris Evans, celeb-

rity hairdresser Nicky Clarke,

Hillary Clinton and fashion

designer Karl Lagerfeld.

With a wedding on the cards,

Miss Woods spent £6,000 on a

Caroline Castigliano wedding

dress, which she had altered and

still has to this day.

A

FTEr learning that

Acklom was having

cash-flow difficulties,

she rearranged her

finances and opened a new

account with Barclays.

She then began transferring

money into an account that was

in the name of an associate of

Acklom’s. She thought she was

funding renovations on a property

Acklom claimed to own.

In truth, the cash was partly

funding the £9,500-a-month rent

on the extensive Georgian prop-

erty in Brock Street, Bath, they

now shared – and which she

believed was wholly owned by

him. The rest of the money funded

Acklom’s jet-set lifestyle.

The cruel con left Miss Woods in

‘total financial ruin’. At one stage,

to stave off being ‘hounded’ by

debt collectors and to continue to

pay the bills, she had to cash in

her pension and borrow money

from friends and family.

By Christmas 2012, Acklom had

cleaned out her bank account but

claimed he had been kidnapped

by MI6, who wanted him to return

to Syria, and was in a military

Left: Carolyn Woods says her

life was ruined. Above: The

wedding dress she never wore

-TONGUED CONMAN

Left: Carolyn Woods says her

TURN TO NEXT PAGE

I’ve lost

£850,000.

All I have

left now is

wedding

dress I

never wore

b

g

a

m

b

in

st

d

‘I

b

Fateful moment they met: CCTV of Acklom in the shop with her m

ПОДГОТОВИЛА

ГРУППА

"What's News"

VK.COM/WSNWS