Summary:
A British couple who paid £400,000 for a house in Spain has said she feels "devastated" after being conned out of £200,000.

Full article:
A Spanish court has jailed a German property developer for defrauding seven British families out of more than half a million pounds for homes that were never built. German Heinz Wilfert was sentenced to six years in prison at the hearing in Alicante for conning clients by lying to them he had the go-ahead to build the houses to get his hands on their cash. One of the British couples he cheated, had paid him more than £100,000 for a house near Benidorm, a court heard. Judges trying Wilfert ruled he knew it was 'highly improbable' building work could even start when he made his written promise to the expats he hoodwinked. They concluded that Wilfert had acted the way he did 'to enrich himself with the money the buyers paid him.' They were planning on retiring to the inland village of Sagra near the Costa Blanca resort of Benidorm. The houses, on an estate that was to be called Oasis Verde - Green Oasis in Spanish - were never built. The court acquitted two men who subsequently bought Wilfert's firm off him including the owner of the land the homes were planned for. Spaniard Miguel Muntaner offered the German's victims alternative homes nearby for extra cash but they declined his offer. In a written ruling released today,, judges said there was no evidence Muntaner and an associate knew about the fraud as the victims themselves had admitted the only person they dealt with was Wilfert.