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This Morning’s Eamonn Holmes 'feels vulnerable' after losing £60k after falling prey to notorious conman

18 January 2019, 11:14 | Updated: 7 February 2020, 12:37

By Alice Dear

This Morning host Eamonn Holmes has opened up on how he was left “suspicious” and “vulnerable” following £60,000 con in 2014.

Eamonn Holmes has spoken candidly after falling victim to swindler Jay Cartmill in 2014.

Ruth Langsford’s husband was conned out of £60,000 five years ago by Cartmill, who spent two weeks in a hotel pretending to be the This Morning presenter.

The conman also ran up other bills, including £25,000 on a marble fireplace.

Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford — Eamonn Holmes first thought the hack had happened when he was on holiday in Dubai with wife Ruth Langsford. Picture: PA

Speaking to The Sun about the traumatic time, Eamonn said: “The effect it has on you is that it makes you suspicious of everyone and everything and you feel very, very vulnerable.”

The former Sky News presenter found out about the theft when his bank called him.

They asked him if he’d spent £25,000 on paving stones and wood panelling, to which Eamonn assumed he’d been hacked while away on holiday with wife Ruth weeks earlier.

Eamonn explained: “We were in Dubai at a Bedouin experience, and the guy said to me, ‘I can’t get a signal on the machine, I have to go to the top of that sand dune to get a signal’.

Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes — The conman posed at Eamonn for two weeks in a hotel. Picture: PA

“And I thought, ‘That’s where it happened’. But it didn’t happen there.”

In fact, the con had taken place in Belfast.

Eamonn went on to add: “The guy with the brain hacks your account, the Mafioso lot pay him money, they take your details and they live off them.

“It was the most ridiculous situation but the scandalous thing is that when it went to court the judge said it was a victimless crime because they will say the bank will reimburse me and I could afford it."