17 years for serial romance fraudster

He gambled away victims' life savings

- BY JAMES GAMBLE

A MAN believed to be one of the world’s biggest romance fraudster has been jailed for 17 years after betting away the life savings of vulnerable women.

Gambling addict Nigel Baker, 56, targeted five divorced single mums on dating apps such as Plenty of Fish and convinced them to hand over hundreds of thousands of pounds.

A Betfair account paid into by one victim and used by Baker had losses of more than €4m.

She paid out more than €300,000 to his accounts, the court heard.

The father-of-two took more than €1mfrom victims who included police officers, successful businesswomen and accountants, a trial heard.