A clergyman returned home to find his house had been stripped of his belongings and occupied by a new owner after a fraudster sold it.

The Reverend Mike Hall had been away working in north Wales when he received a call from neighbours telling him someone was inside his home in Luton.

He drove back the following morning on August 21 to discover the locks had been changed and a builder was completing construction works inside.

Mr Hall said: “I pushed him to one side and got in the property. I really didn’t know what he was doing there.

“The shock of seeing the house completely stripped of furniture; all furnishings, carpet, curtains – everything – was out of the property.”

Mr Hall phoned the police, and the builder left but returned with the new owner’s father, who said he had bought the terraced house in July for £131,000.

The owner’s father then told Mr Hall: “It is now my property. You are now trespassing. Get out.”

Police response was ‘unbelievable’

The Rev Hall said: “We then tried to access the Land Registry documentation online to find out whose name appeared … and it is, in fact, as of 4 August, this man’s name.

“At that point the police said, ‘Well, there’s nothing further we can do here. This is a civil matter; you need to leave the house and contact your solicitors.’”

Mr Hall continued: “I was in a bit of a state of shock – but then to be told by the police they didn’t believe a criminal offence had been committed was just unbelievable.”