A judge has criticised police over an eight-year investigation into a callous conman which took so long one victim stopped cooperating and the crook’s accomplice died.
Adam Francis, 48, was reported to detectives in 2018 after posing as a mortgage broker to dupe prospective house buyers in a ‘despicable and shameful’ £200,000 fraud.
But he was not interviewed by officers until July 2021 and not charged until December 2024.
Following his first court appearance, victims then waited a further 19 months whilst Francis, from Barnton, Northwich, Cheshire, faced a series of court hearings.
He eventually pleaded guilty after being told he was likely to
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