Straight after my mother's death I knew I had to do something, to bring what happened to my mother to the attention of the media.

The scammers had not just controlled my mother's life for the past five years, they had also been responsible for the break of the strong bond that my mother and I had always shared.

Please scroll down the page and let me share my story.

After the family finally managed to stop my mother from buying huge amounts of goods she neither needed nor could afford, from Readers Digest. We thought our problems were over, mother had always been independent and self sufficient and even when she reached her eighties, she would still catch the bus into town and took great pride in her appearance.

"Young at heart" was the phrase mum always used to describe herself.

For mother the money that she was sending continually, was an investment that would make her secure in her final years.

She often mentioned to me that she didn't want to go into a residential home and that she was worried that her ongoing medical condition might lead to her having to depend on others if she lost the ability to stay mobile. In her mind her forth coming "award" took away all of those fears.

She wasn't overly concerned about not having hardly any money. The thing that caused her the most stress was when those that cared about her, tried to break her intense and loyal bond with the criminal mail. There was never any "IF" about mother's winnings arriving and she had even bought a dress to wear for the party.

Christmases did cause her more anxiety though, as she would be upset and embarrassed at not being able to give gifts to her grandchildren and great grandchildren. She would invent excuses for not receiving the promised cheque in time. Saying things like "the Christmas post causes a lot of mail to get delayed or lost". Once the festive season was over mother could get back to her main occupation in life reading, sorting, replying and sending her cash off on time.

I have found drafts of the many letters mother had written to those she perceived as her friends. They are heart breaking. She confided in them about everything from wanting to pay private to get her missing teeth sorted out, to which charities she intended to help. Mother trusted and befriended those who were manipulating, teasing and taking from her, in whatever disgusting way that they could. How can any human being be so cruel?

It would be impossible for me to list all the many different ways, we tried to persuade, bribe, cajole and sometimes even force my mother to stop responding to the scams.

Many arguments erupted amongst our family as my mother stood firm in her decision to control her own finances. I have to admit there were times when I would reduce her to tears because I could not contain my frustration.

There were other times I would drive her to the Building Society and wait outside while she drew out all her pension and sent it of to the scams. On those occasions I wanted to spend quality time with my mum, and going along with her was the only way, we could spend a day without arguments.

Mother and I had always had a very close relationship and she would often come and stay at my home but as she got more and more involved with the scammers, she often refused to spend nights away. Even after just one night she was impatient to get home.

Mother told me that if I discussed her business with anybody else she would disown me, but still I tried to seek help. I contacted the police, social services, trading standards and even mums local MP but the advice that I got was, if it's to good to be true, it probably is and tell her not to respond and put it in the bin.

After doing my presentation at the Office of Fair Trading Scams Conference in July 2008, I now realise many people were confusing my mothers mail with junk mail. Many had no idea that criminals were polluting our mail to such an extent.

Mother's postman said if you think your mum gets a lot of scam mail, you should see what some of them (pensioners) are getting. At that point mums postman was delivering around thirty scams a day from all over the world. The postman also said he wished that he could help, but he was just doing his job.

I contacted the Royal Mail and they told me they had a legal obligation to deliver all mail as addressed and they could not police the mail. They also suggested I had my mothers name removed from mailing lists. Which may have some effect on junk mail but none whatsoever on scam mail.

At the end of July 2007 mother was taken in to hospital. She came out after about two weeks but a few days later she was taken in again. We were told she had a heart attack.

It was then I removed around 30,000 scam mail letters from her home. I still have these in storage. I also found disconnection letters from the gas and water board and a letter from a bailiff, threatening to remove the contents of her house.

The vile clairvoyants letter, that she couldn't afford to respond to was on the kitchen table along with a letter of apology, hand written by mother asking for more time to get her finances sorted.

It was then I became desperate. It was obvious my mothers post was hounding her to her death. By going through her personal correspondence we estimated she had parted with around £50,000. It was then I forged my own authentic looking document and gave it to my mum in hospital. I wrote, all the competitions have now closed. You won't be getting any more mail and you will receive your winnings in the New Year. This wasn't a false promise as my husband had arranged to sell a thin strip of land that belonged to my mothers terraced house. We were going to surprise her with the £15,000.

I then seized the opportunity to sever her relationship with the scammers. I took her building society book and one of her utility bills to the post office, forged her signature and redirected the mail. (If I had known how easy it was, I would have done it years ago.)

I then phoned the Royal Mail fraud dept and told them I had committed fraud but they didn't want to know. When I asked how much revenue they collected from delivering scam mail they hung up. I have recorded this call.

I moved in with mum for three weeks when she came out of hospital and the bond that we once had finally returned. Even though I had to get her a wheelchair we went out most days and looked at all the things she could buy when her "winnings" arrived. Mum was delighted when I helped her to plan the big party we were going to have when her payout arrived. We planned to have pink balloons and pink champagne.

She never suspected that the absence of her mail had anything to do with me. My lovely trusting mum really believed that at last she had proved us all wrong. With the scam mail finally gone I really did think she was going to get better.

The middle of October I went on a holiday that had been planned since the previous year. While I was away I was counting the days when I could get back to my mum. The day before I was due back I got a call from my aunt, Mum had been rushed back into hospital.

The following day I had three precious hours holding her hand, as I sat beside her hospital bed. Mum had held my hand 23 years earlier, when I had given birth to my daughter. Jessica passed away on October 24 2007 aged 83.

We had the pink party for all the family and the children, just like we had planned, but it was my mother's funeral. The songs that I chose were, I Believe, Everything is Beautiful and Down Town.

Thank you to Shirley and Bobby from social services in Derby, for all the help you gave to my mum and me when we were trying to adapt her home to her needs. Also a big thank you to all the people who work in Derby for their kind words and condolences. I knew mum loved visiting The Eagle Centre. The thought that so many people knew and miss her has meant such a lot.

One lady who works on the Eagle Centre market told me, "your mother used to show me some of her "AWARD" letters, we wondered why her family had allowed her get scammed"

Well now you all know.

IF WE DO NOTHING TO PROTECT THOSE WHO ARE BEING CONNED FOR WHATEVER REASON BE IT VULNERABILITY, TRUST OR IGNORANCE HOW CAN WE STOP THIS HORRENDOUS CRIMINAL ACTIVITY?

I know there is nothing I can do to bring my mum back but I hope my story will help others that find themselves in a similar position.