A cold caller "hounded an elderly couple to their deaths" by bombarding them with sales calls and leaving them more than £74,000 in debt, a court heard.

Barbara Stone targeted John and Olga Moyle on a daily basis from as early as 7.45am and convinced the pair to place adverts in a lifestyle magazine for the small holiday home they owned in France.

The 62-year-old persuaded Mr Moyle to hand over £8,000 a month for almost a year, falsely promising non-existent sponsors would reimburse the money.

But not a single booking for the property, near Nice, was ever made - and the Moyles were eventually forced to sell the Shropshire home they had lived in for almost 50 years to pay off the debts they built up because of the scam.