THE victim of a skilled confidence trickster said she wants to look him in the eye one more time.

Claire Cooper, 34, believed she was in a loving relationship with Zac Langley after meeting him on a dating website.

But her "lovely, kind-hearted, caring man" was in fact a fraudster who conned her and mum Muriel, 60, into giving away more than £100,000.

Serial conman defrauded women out of thousands by claiming to be a millionaire intelligence officer

Claire, who lives in Poole, said: "He's hurt me, but he's probably hurt my mum more.

"Everything my mum and my late father had worked all their lives for to keep my mum in her retirement, that was going to come to me eventually - he has taken everything.

"He has stripped my mum of her livelihood. She's had to go back to work."

Langley used a profile under the name 'The Adventurer' to contact Claire on website Plenty of Fish.

The two met at Bournemouth Pavilion in December 2015 and quickly began a romantic relationship.

Langley told Claire he served as an intelligence officer in the Royal Marines.

"I was immensely proud of him," she said.

"I was in the Army myself and I trained to be a nurse. I was proud that he was serving our country."

In fact, Langley had been out of prison for just four days before he met Claire.

"I loved him," Claire said.

"When he was away, I'd hear from him every day by email or text - he'd tell me how much he loved me and that he couldn't wait to be home with me.

"I wanted him to be happy because he made me happy."

Langley told Claire and Muriel he was very wealthy, but needed money to pay for brand new Range Rovers, healthcare for his mum and an aunt with terminal cancer and a development opportunity.

He promised to return the money when dividends and shares due to him from his family's company were paid in July 2016.

"He said he came from a wealthy background and that women had taken advantage of him in the past," Claire said.

"I wanted to prove that I'm not a money grabber and that I could pay my own way."

When fraud investigator Paul Sullivan knocked on Muriel's door to warn her about Langley, Claire said she simply didn't believe him.

"He showed me a photo of Zac and asked if I knew him." she said.

"Then he said, 'I think I need to come in. He's not who you think he is'. It happened two days after I transferred £7,000 into his account."

Claire says she doesn't hate Langley, but wants to understand why he targeted her.

"I just want to speak to him," she said.

"I want to look him in the eye. I'm not upset any more - I'm angry that he could do that to me and to the other women he's hurt too."