A man from North London “coerced” a 72-year-old widow with learning difficulties into marriage months after her husband died, then transferred over £500,000 of her money into his accounts, her family has claimed.

A police error meant that a criminal case against 54-year-old Yaacov Mizrahi collapsed two days before the trial was due to commence in March this year, prompting the Crown Prosecution Service to apologise.

Daphne Worledge, who lives in Golders Green, told the JC she no longer felt safe after what her bank described as a “romance scam” in which she gave her life savings and half the value of her home to the alleged scammer.

Following the failure to put Mr Mizrahi in the dock — despite the CPS admitting there was enough evidence for a prosecution — the family of Mrs Worledge have spoken out, in fear that he will continue to prey on other vulnerable women.

They believe that she was just one of several of his victims in North West London and are in touch with other women who they claim have given Mr Mizrahi significant sums of cash during their relationships with him. Mr Mizrahi strongly denies any wrongdoing.

Mrs Worledge — or ‘Bay’, as the family affectionately refers to her — claimed that Mr Mizrahi spent a year isolating her from her friends and family, controlling her communication with her loved ones and even returning letters from her sister with a note saying she no longer lived at that address.

She said: “Even my best friend didn’t know I was married to Yaacov, as he made me promise not to tell anyone. For a long while, Yaacov lived in a house opposite and could watch me coming and going, even see me in my sitting room.”

She now has nightmares about the experience, telling the JC: “I have woken up my nephew and even the neighbours, screaming at night as I see a man standing over me.”

Mrs Worledge, who worked part time as shop assistant at Harvey Nichols, suffers from learning difficulties and Corticobasel syndrome, a degenerative illness that can cause problems with movement, speech, and memory function.

Her sister, Jenny Bleackley, who lives in the US with her husband Adrian, became suspicious about Mr Mizrahi’s intentions when he befriended Mrs Worledge in the months before her husband’s death in May 2018.

At the time, Mr Mizrahi, 54, lived near to Mrs Worledge on Golders Green Road.

Speaking to the JC, Mrs Bleackley said: “I would phone my sister and she would say ‘Yaacov is here to take me shopping to the supermarket,’ or that he was getting her shopping and helping her in the house.

“We were instantly suspicious as to what a man in his 50s was doing hanging around a vulnerable old lady and her husband who was ill. But my sister’s so kind and trusting that she’d have given anyone anything they asked for.”

The family later learnt that Mr Mizrahi’s house was previously owned by Ella Lederer, an elderly woman who had rented out a room to him. In 2006, Ms Lederer had died, leaving the place to Mr Mizrahi, who then turned it into a dwelling of multiple occupancy.

According to the family, within four months of Mr Worledge’s death, Mr Mizrahi, who is known to attend a number of shuls in the area and has connections to Israel, had persuaded Mrs Worledge to transfer her life savings into his name, as well as sign over half her home to him.

“She was being groomed,” Mrs Bleackley claimed.

While her husband was still alive, Mrs Worledge gave Mr Mizrahi £10,000 after he said he needed the money for his motorcycle business. Bank statements reveal large sums of Mrs Worledge’s money being transferred to Mr Mizrahi and companies associated with him following her husband’s death.

On 11 September, 2018, £80,000 was sent to a company called YMBS and another was made to the same firm on 12 November for £42,000. A withdrawal of £2,000 was made at the Swiss Cottage branch of Barclays on 19 November. Other payments included £17,000 to Mercedes-Benz on 31 August.

“He told her the money was for a loft conversion on her house and that she needed to renovate. But that isn’t something she would have needed or wanted,” Mrs Bleackley explained.

Mr Mizrahi was listed as a director of YMBS Limited, a property company, between 2013 and October 2019.

The family believe Mr Mizrahi bought himself a car with her money.

Relatives discovered the pair had married in secret in October 2018, a fact that only came to light via a Land Registry Alert placed on her house in Golders Green.

“We put an alert on Bay’s property because we were concerned about what was going on and that is when it all started to unravel,” Mrs Bleackley explained.

“We felt something wasn’t right but we couldn’t do anything about it. Every time we would call Bay she wasn’t really able to speak clearly. We couldn’t get clear information out of her because of her mental state.”

Upon receiving the land registry notice, Mrs Bleackley sent her son, Alex Catt, who lives in London, to his aunt’s house to check on her.

He told the JC: “That is when I saw the bank statements and all the money that had gone out of her account. I said to her, ‘tell me you haven’t married him’ and she said she had.”

The wedding took place at Hendon Register Office, with none of Mrs Worledge’s family present and John Holland, a friend of Mr Mizrahi, acting as the witness. A picture of the day shows the three of them together. There is no suggestion that Mr Holland acted inappropriately.

Mrs Bleackley told the JC: “We were terrified about what was happening. I felt sick for her, it didn’t make sense.

“I remember calling Bay and saying to her, ‘you told me you didn’t want to move’, and she replied, ‘I don’t.’ I said, ‘Why are you selling the house?’ and she said, ‘I’m not.’ She had no idea what he was doing.”

What followed was hours of panic. Mrs Bleackley and her husband instructed Wedlake Bell solicitors and informed the police. The couple took the next flight to London.

“We arrived in Golders Green at 5pm the following evening,” she said. “And we were confronted with him.”

The JC has seen video footage recorded by Mrs Bleackley in her sister’s home arguing with Mr Mizrahi about what was happening.

“We got to the house and it was clear he had not been staying there. None of his clothes or things were in the house. At first, he tried to negotiate with us. I will do X if you do Y,” Mrs Bleackley said.

“I couldn’t believe it. We told him we would only talk through our solicitors and he got angry and left.”

Mr Mizrahi was arrested in June 2019 and charged with nine counts of fraud. The charge was later changed to theft.

The following month, Mrs Worledge underwent a capacity assessment by specialists at University College Hospital and social workers, and her sister was awarded power of attorney.

Over the next few months, the family’s solicitors worked to gather evidence about what had happened and attempted to get Mrs Worledge’s house back and marriage to Mr Mizrahi terminated.

In October 2020, the family learnt that a woman called Hong Feng had been due to marry Mr Mizrahi at the same time as Mrs Worledge.

The family discovered that when Mr Mizrahi and Mrs Worledge initially gave notice to get married, they were told they could not because Ms Feng had already given notice to marry him.

The wedding eventually went ahead because Mr Mizrachi withdrew his notice to marry Ms Feng and the register office accepted the change.

Meanwhile, Mr Catt had moved into his aunt’s house to care for her. He said that while he was staying there, on 22 November, there was a knock on the door and he opened it to find a “distressed woman” who told him her mother had given Mr Mizrahi £90,000.

In November 2020, Mr Mizrahi agreed to divorce Mrs Worledge after pressure from the family’s solicitor.

After a delay, a trial was scheduled for March 2021 at Harrow Crown Court. However, two days before the trial, Mrs Worledge’s family said they were informed the CPS decided to “offer no evidence” and the trial was stopped.

In a letter sent to the family in March 2021, the CPS said “inappropriate behaviour” by the police meant that it “prejudiced” the defendant’s right to a fair trial and the case had to be dropped.

Mrs Bleackley said: “It became clear the investigating officer was out of her depth in dealing with a complex fraud case, which counsel considered doomed to fail.”

The CPS wrote to the family and apologised for the “failings” in the case.

“Our service to your sister Mrs Daphne Worledge, and you as her representative, has fallen below the standards we are committed to providing to victims and witnesses of crime, and I am sincerely sorry for that,” a spokesperson wrote.

The CPS told the family that while the evidence they had was sufficient for a prosecution, information requested by the defence about the nature of the contact the officer had had with witnesses was “inappropriate”, and undermined the case to such an extent that Mr Mizrahi could no longer expect a fair trial.

Meanwhile, Barclays Bank responded to the family’s complaints and ruled that Mrs Worledge had been a victim of a “romance scam” involving 11 transactions totalling £496,300 between 5 June 2018 and 25 February 2019. The bank refunded the money.

The family has written to Mike Freer, the MP for Golders Green, to ask for his help in “trying to ensure a full investigation into what went so badly wrong”.

In a statement, Mrs Worledge said the experience had left her traumatised. She said: “I have woken up my nephew and even the neighbours screaming at night as I see a man in my bedroom, standing over me. I feel shaken I could make such a mistake in my judgment. I have lost confidence and find it difficult to trust anyone. It even took me a long while to trust my sister, her husband and my nephew.”

Mrs Worldege, who now lives in a care home, said: “[Mr Mizrahi] spent over a year separating me from my friends and family, trying to turn me against them. He would listen to my phone calls, open my letters and even returned some from my sister, writing on them I didn’t live here anymore. Even my best friend didn’t know I was married to Yaacov, as he made me promise not to tell anyone.

“For a long while Yaacov lived in a house opposite and could watch me coming and going, even see me in my sitting room.

“I no longer feel safe in my own community of 47 years. I am left devastated by my experience of the last two years and my misfortune in ever meeting Yaacov Mizrahi. I pray he will never have the opportunity to do this again.”

When approached by the JC, Mr Mizrahi, who is in Israel, denied the claims made by Mrs Worledge and her family. He said:

“I love my wife and had relationships with her for over 30 years.” He claimed Mrs Bleackley had not seen her sister for 20 years and was estranged from her.

Mrs Bleackley refuted his claims and has provided the JC with a regular log of calls between the two.

Mr Mizrahi claimed that any financial arrangements regarding property owned by the pair were “made by a solicitor and she was to gain from all those arrangements”.

He also claimed that Mrs Worledge’s husband had been aware of a romantic relationship between them and approved of it. He provided no evidence for this claim.

He added that money transferred to him from Mrs Worledge was to complete an extension on her house and he was unable to finish it because her family threw him out.

“I have done 24 different developments in Golders Green area,” he said.

Mrs Bleackley said: “Her bank statements show up to £120,000 paid directly to his company. What happened to that money?” Mr Mizrahi provided no explanation.

Asked about the decision not to proceed with his marriage to Hong Feng, Mr Mizrahi said that she was his business partner but claimed he could provide no further details because of an ongoing court case.

Mr Holland, who is a management consultant, told the JC he had “no reason to doubt” the authenticity of the marriage between Mr Mizrahi and Mrs Worledge. “There couldn’t have been any coercion because there was an agreement of sharing assets between the two parties,” he said.

“Mr Mizrahi owned a freehold house in the Vale that was worth £1.5 million. I knew the property and I had helped him when he was travelling to collect his rents for him.

“Mrs Worledge had a property that was worth less and he told me they had known each other for some 20 years.

“I don’t think there was coercion at all. I visited them when they were living together.”

He said that he believed Mr Mizrahi “funded the redevelopment of the house from his own pocket”.

He also claimed that he was not the only witness to the marriage, an event which encouraged him that there was “no coercion”.

He confirmed that there was no celebration following the marriage.

Mr Holland confirmed that Mr Mizrahi, whom he met seven years ago, had given him a Mercedes car.

“He said I could have it if I paid the parking tickets on it,” Mr Holland said.

Mr Holland said he did not at any point believe the car to be worth the £17,000 that bank statements showed had been spent by Mrs Worledge at the Mercedes outlet.

There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by Mr Holland.

First person: My disturbing encounter with Yaacov Mizrahi

During the investigation into Yaacov Mizrahi, I saw photos and videos of him. I was shocked to discover that the individual that I was investigating was familiar to me. I did not know him properly, but I recognised him immediately.

On February 27, 2017, I had been approached by him in the Golders Green branch of Santander. I know the date because I tweeted about the encounter and sent messages about what had happened. I was in there to withdraw money and was interrupted by an older man who asked me out — I say “asked me out” loosely. He said: “You should go out with me. I have lots of money.”

Thinking that this was just another sad character, I ignored him and continued with my withdrawal.

Women don’t forget these encounters. No matter how inconsequential, no matter how many times it has happened, every inappropriate advance is recorded and remembered.

Mr Mizrahi followed me out of the bank and shoved a small piece of paper into my hand. It was an advice slip showing his bank balance and on the back of it he had written his number. The sum was substantial.

I walked back to my office repulsed and told my colleagues about the encounters. I tweeted about how disgusting it was, sharing the advice slip but concealing the number so that he was not bothered by any strangers.

Whilst my experience does not, and could not, prove the more serious allegations made by Mrs Worledge and her family against Mr Mizrahi, I believe it does offer a stark insight into his attitudes towards women.