A respected lawyer has denied he was part of a plot to con a mentally ill pensioner out of his home, a court has heard.

David Randall-Sinnatt, a planning consultant solicitor with Brighton law firm Osler Donegan Taylor, was arrested in September 2002 for conspiring with three other men to defraud 80-year-old William Coldicott of his house in Oak Hill Road, Norbury, London.

Croydon Crown Court heard yesterday Mr Coldicott was suffering from senile dementia when he was persuaded to sell his £193,000 three-bedroom terraced house for less than a third of its market value.

Randall-Sinnatt, 81, of Staplefields, near Steyning, denies conspiracy to defraud Mr Coldicott with William Stevens, 62, of Lower Dicker, whose wife paid just £50,000 for the property.

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

Anscombe befriended the widower after helping him up from a fall in the street.

The court heard he "cajoled" Mr Coldicott over five years to give him cheques for large sums of money.

It is alleged Mr Coldicott's accounts were cleaned out, forcing him to take out an overdraft of more than £2,000, which was also handed over to Anscombe.

Mark Paltenghi, prosecuting, said: "Between December 2000 and June 2002, many thousands of pounds were removed both by cheque and by cash.

"The cheques were made payable to another man, Mr Armiger, because Anscombe needed the help of someone who would sign the cheques for him."

Mr Paltenghi told the court Armiger received £50 for each cheque he cashed.

Mr Paltenghi said: "A sum of £43,500 must have gone through the hands of Mr Armiger and the crown say that this money was dishonestly obtained and that Armiger and Anscombe were acting together as part of a conspiracy.

"They later needed the help of Randall-Sinnatt and Stevens, who were recruited to push through the sale of the house.

"Mr Coldicott lived a modest lifestyle. He lived alone since his wife died in 1983 and didn't spend much money.

"His house hadn't been decorated since the Eighties.

"He went to hospital in August 2002 for an infected leg and when his mental health was examined he was unaware he had sold his house, even though it happened just two months before.

"When Anscombe and Armiger had taken all the money from his bank accounts the only thing left to take was his house."

The prosecution told the court Randall-Sinnatt knew Anscombe and his wife because he had helped them make a number of property transactions.

Anscombe and Armiger deny two counts of conspiracy and one of conspiracy to defraud. Randall-Sinnatt and Stevens deny conspiracy to defraud.

The trial continues.