A man has been jailed for conspiring to defraud an 80-year-old senile man of more than £76,500.

Carl Anscombe, 32, of Rubelca House, Horam Road, Horam, was described in court by a judge as the "prime mover" in the elaborate plot.

He was given six years for defrauding WIlliam Caldicott, from Surrey, over a period of two years.

Mark Paltenghi, prosecuting at Croydon Crown Court yesterday, told the jury that Mr Caldicott suffered from dementia and the onset of Alzheimer's disease.

He said he was the victim of systematic abuse by Anscombe and Philip Armiger, from Kent, who was jailed for three years and nine months.

The pair removed thousands of pounds from Mr Caldicott's life savings and attempted to get him to sell his own home for below the market value.

William Stevens, 62, of Whitegates, Hackhurst Lane, Lower Dicker, was acquitted of the charges and earlier in the trial, solicitor David Randall-Sinnatt, 81, of Warwick Cottage, Rose Cottage Road, Stapleford, was found not guilty.