Mother was 'talked out' of £750,000 home by son

A son talked his elderly mother out of her £750,000 home after promising to provide her with a £2,000 monthly pension and a lifetime of first-class travel.

Felix Hughes paid his " vulnerable" mother £60,000 for the house in Windsor in 1997, when it was worth £245,000.

Hughes said he could make a fortune by mortgaging the house and ploughing the proceeds into a business venture. He allegedly told her: "We will not want for a penny and we shall go first class everywhere." But instead Pauline Hughes received only a few £600 payments, and was now living on housing benefit.

Mrs Hughes, of Didcot, Oxon, has taken her son to the High Court as she fights for the return of her home.

Her barrister David Parry said Felix, a graduate in banking and finance, used "undue influence" on his mother and did not allow her to seek independent legal advice.

In a second agreement in 2001 Mrs Hughes accepted £50,000 from her son as well as another deal on monthly payments and his share of a joint portfolio to abandon her claims. Mr Parry said that agreement should also be declared void.

The case continues.