A con man who duped elderly Alzheimer’s sufferers into paying out sums of money from their savings has been ordered to pay back half of the money he swindled.

Thomas Boswell, 54, of Sefton Road, Epsom, tricked one Alzheimer’s sufferer from Raynes Park into handing over £15,000 between 2009 and 2011.

Boswell had just started working on another victim from Surbiton, swindling him out of £560, when he was arrested.

Father-of-two Norman Harris, 96, had lived with his wife Mary, 94, who suffered from dementia for 30 years at their family home in Corkran Road, Surbiton.

But Boswell tricked the forgetful war veteran with Alzheimer’s disease into believing that he was a family friend before swindling him out of hundreds of pounds of his savings.

He died before he saw Boswell punished.

Wimbledon Times: War veteran Norman Harris was conned out of at least

War veteran Norman Harris, 96, was conned out of his savings and died shortly after

Boswell was sentenced to 21 months and 18 months in prison for two charges of fraud by false representation on November 7, last year at Kingston Crown Court, where retired judge Fergus Mitchell called him "vile".

But in another hearing at Kingston Crown Court on June 30 Boswell was ordered to pay back £8,000 gained from his crimes.

He faces further jail time if the money is not paid within six months.

Police investigating Boswell, who is from the travelling community, managed to track him down from the bank account he was using.

He was also arrested after activation of an Automatic Number Plate Reader.