A retired lecturer who was murdered with a crossbow told a conman who defrauded him out of more than £200,000 “there is no more money” just days before he was killed, a court has heard.

Gerald Corrigan, 74, was killed in April 2019 outside his home in a remote part of Holyhead, Anglesey, as he tried to fix a satellite dish in the dark.

When police started investigating his death, Marie Bailey, Mr Corrigan’s partner, alleged that the couple had lost hundreds of thousands of pounds to a man they had befriended in 2015, Richard Wyn Lewis.

On Monday, Mold Crown Court heard that Mr Lewis, 50, is a “fraudster” who conned the couple out of roughly £220,000 over four years for what they believed was being used to fund property developments, land sales and horses.

Peter Rouch QC, prosecuting, also alleged that Mr Lewis had defrauded three other elderly victims and an auction house using similar tactics.

Opening the trial against Mr Lewis, Mr Rouch QC said that the reasons for Mr Corrigan’s murder had nothing to do with this trial.

Four years prior to his death, Mr Corrigan and Ms Bailey befriended Mr Lewis, who they regarded “as a good and trusted friend”.

The prosecution alleged that the fraud started when Mr Lewis suggested to Mr Corrigan that he could make money by selling his home, Gof Du, for development.