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the last of my credit card funds. Mark didn’t show. I returned home brokenhearted and told my daughters everything.

Even after that, he was still in daily contact, telling me he loved me.

I’ve learned that in the last phase of a relationship with a psychopath, they keep you on a string so they can survey your destruction. They feel nothing but contempt.

In desperation, I got in touch with James Miller. He was a former associate of Mark’s, who Mark had told me to call if I needed anything while he was away. More recently, he was supposed to have met me with airline tickets so Mark and I could be reunited. I texted three words: ‘Please, help me.’

I’d only met James a couple of times, but he seemed my only hope. In fact when I met him, he offered me little reassurance. Mark also owed him a lot of money and he’d become suspicious – he revealed he’d discovered that Mark was a lifelong con man with a string of offences to his name.

He was, in fact, Mark Acklom, and he’d first broken the law in 1991, having obtained a £450,000 mortgage by posing as a City trader – he was just 16.

He’d also stolen his father’s credit card and racked up thousands of pounds of debt by staying at The Savoy and flying his friends in private jets. He was sentenced to four years, but once out had continued conning respectable organisations and individuals, including James Miller.

Acklom, I discovered, was married with two children and had been living in luxury on the other side of Bath in a mansion paid for with my money. This was 2013. It took six more years to bring him to justice.

Mark took everything. My money, my home, my confidence. I was completely dependent on the kindness of my friends and my daughters Lara and Emma. One evening, shortly after discovering his true identity, he rang to say he still loved me. ‘Just give me my money,’ I said coldly. I never heard from him again.

Following an initially flawed police investigation, I enlisted the help of Sky News’ crime correspondent Martin Brunt, and we tracked Acklom to Spain and then to Switzerland. He was extradited and eventually admitted five counts of fraud – although he was charged with 20. He was jailed for five years, and I’ve no doubt that once out he’ll go back to the same ways.

If you think you’ve been a victim of romance fraud, contact your bank immediately and report it to Action Fraud via actionfraud.police.uk. In Scotland, report to Police Scotland by calling 101.

So where am I now? Have I recovered my £850,000?

No.

The police have to find it first. My health has suffered, I’ve struggled to work and my trust has been severely shaken. I want to warn others about Acklom, which is why I’ve written a book, but I refuse to let that man take anything else. I am thankful for my friends and the support of my incredible daughters.

Having come through this traumatic experience, James and I became close and are now living together in Scotland. Life has been a struggle, but we support each other as best we can. Ours was a match made in hell, but we’ve managed to find our own little corner of paradise.

✢ Sleeping with a Psychopath by Carolyn Woods (£8.99, Harper Collins) is out now.