Teacher duped by conman’s ‘IRA’ lies

A TEACHER fought back tears yesterday as he told London’s Blackfriars Crown Court of years of humiliation believing a “callous” conman’s lies about having to save his country from IRA killers.

John Atkinson said he ended up abandoning college, friends and family and handing over a fortune to his alleged tormentor.

Giving evidence from behind a specially erected partition to screen him from the defendant, the 34-year-old son of a wealthy north-country landowner said he could see how foolish he had been.