Widow 'insisted on selling house'

Jurors heard the pair were close friends with a "unique bond"

An elderly widow insisted on selling her house at a greatly reduced price to a senior police officer who befriended her, the officer told a jury.

Det Ch Insp Peter Salkeld said Eileen Savage, 93, was "bright as a button" and was totally aware of what she was doing in giving him power of attorney.

Mr Salkeld, 42, of Shoreham, West Sussex, denies 19 charges of theft and deception between 1997 and 2005.

He is currently suspended from the South East Regional Intelligence Unit.

The jury at Maidstone Crown Court was told he first got to know Mrs Savage when he was in his late teens.

She had absolutely no shortfalls in terms of her mental abilities Peter Salkeld

He said he would take her for days out and do odd jobs in the house she owned in Hove, East Sussex.

As she got older and her health deteriorated, he installed an emergency alarm in her home and organised a cleaner and Meals on Wheels service.

He said that she was like a mother to him and told him she wanted to make him a beneficiary in her will and also that she would give him her house, valued at £105,000.

After seeking financial advice, Mr Salkeld decided to buy the property to avoid paying capital gains tax, but she sold it to him at the reduced price of £55,000.

Nursing home

"Eileen had stated on a number of occasions that she wanted to give me her house and her estate," he told the court.

"She would get on her high horse about it not going to the Chancellor. To be quite frank I found it a little bit embarrassing at first."

He said that Mrs Savage, who now has dementia and lives in a nursing home in Hove, was totally aware of what she was doing.

"She had absolutely no shortfalls in terms of her mental abilities," he added.

The trial continues.