A mentally ill pensioner who was conned out of his home was also duped into paying rent, a court heard.

William Coldicott, 80, was defrauded of his home in Oak Hill Road, London, by respected Brighton lawyer David Randall-Sinnatt and three other men.

Croydon Crown Court heard how Mr Coldicott, who was suffering from senile dementia and the onset of Alzheimer's, was persuaded to sell his £193,000, three-bedroom terraced house for £50,000 to the wife of William Stevens, of Hackhurst Lane, Lower Dicker.

Randall-Sinnatt, 81, of Rose Cottage Lane, Staplefield, a planning consultant solicitor with Brighton law firm Osler Donegan Taylor, denies conspiracy to defraud along with Stevens after they pushed through the sale of the house with an original agreement for Mr Coldicott to remain a tenant until his death and pay no rent.

The court heard yesterday how Stevens later decided Mr Coldicott, a former legal executive, should pay £50 a week in rent despite having sold his house for less than a third of its market value.

The jury heard Randall-Sinnatt and Stevens were part of a conspiracy with two other men, Carl Anscombe, 32, from Rubelcaba House, Horam Road, Horam, near Heathfield, and Phillip Armiger, 47, from Eltham, London, who are alleged to have stolen almost £80,000 from Mr Coldicott the previous year.

Anscombe and Armiger deny two counts of conspiracy and one of conspiracy to defraud.

The trial continues.