A WIDOW has branded the “charming” fraudster who impersonated an emergency paramedic and pretended to care for her terminally ill husband as “the devil incarnate”.

Chic Hutchings, 84, and her late husband Peter were conned by 21-year-old Joshua Martyn, of Somerhill Avenue, Hove.

Martyn took blood samples and pretended to insert an intravenous drip into Peter, who was terminally ill with cancer, when he went to stay at the family’s bed and breakfast in May 2012.

Martyn, then 18, bought a fully marked paramedic first response car on eBay for £1,000 and dressed as a paramedic.

He was eventually found out by the couple’s son Tim, who founded The Brighton Marathon and ran in the 1984 Olympics as well as being a Commonwealth and European medallist.

Martyn was arrested two days before Peter died.

Mrs Hutchings said Martyn also stole two watches and a purse containing about £80, among other things. Martyn was later convicted of fraud and assault.

Martyn, who is believed to have swindled more than £20,000 out of victims, was jailed again this month for six months after befriending more vulnerable people.

Mrs Hutchings said: “He is very clever and even fooled the doctor into thinking he was a normal paramedic. But he is a nasty piece of work, an evil swine.

“It was very sad, especially as my husband was dying.

“I used to say: ‘Josh, I don’t know what I would do without you,’ and all the time he was driving me round the twist.

“I was stupid. He is the devil incarnate.”

The family, who live in West Hoathly, near East Grinstead, knew Martyn as a child and never suspected his motives.

Mrs Hutchings said: “He had very loving grandparents and a devoted father.

“He was an affable, good looking and charming man.”

But Martyn performed treatments on her bedridden husband, including pricking his finger to take a blood sample and pretending to insert an intravenous drip into his foot.

Tim Hutchings said: “My parents, along with my girlfriend and I, were totally taken in by him and his stories when he stayed at my mum’s place.

“He had a wonderfully kitted-out emergency vehicle.

“Once he drove my son, with lights flashing and siren blaring, to get a pizza.

“We only rumbled his act when his stories became so far-fetched that we realised we were being duped, called the police and had him carted away.

“He certainly didn’t help things when Dad was in his last couple of weeks on this earth.”