Police will go to court to wrest back more than £250,000 a “heartless and cynical” conman stole from a forgetful World War II prisoner of war.

Benny Dennard befriended the 88-year-old New Malden man in 1987, then “bled him dry” for fake roof repairs, marching him to a cashpoint 97 times before finally being caught by CCTV.

Dennard, from Darenth in Kent, was jailed for five years at Kingston Crown Court in July.

When the news of his prison term was broken to the World War II veteran, who was a POW in Stalag Luft II, the camp made famous by the Great Escape, he said: “I would rather he was shot.”

Police will try to claw back the £284,000 at a hearing on October 22.