A BETRAYED wife whose husband forged her signature to obtain a £120,000 mortgage –plunging her into financial ruin – branded him a conman as he was jailed for eight months.

Fraser Donaldson twice remortgaged the house he shared with wife of 13 years Linda without her knowledge.

She knew nothing of the fraud until debt collectors turned up at her home on her birthday asking about a deal apparently bearing her signature.

The couple met in 1997, when Mrs Donaldson was a wealthy widow with a house, a new car and a healthy bank account.

Now, 15 years on, she is living in a caravan park and has been forced to sell off her jewellery and family heirlooms in a desperate bid to make ends meet as a result of her husband's fraud.

Mrs Donaldson, 55, who worked as a carer, had been living in a four-bedroom bungalow in Newbigging, Angus, but now stays in a caravan near Carnoustie because of her husband's deception.

She said her new neighbours have been supportive of her – but her new lifestyle was "chalk and cheese" to her former life.

Mrs Donaldson is now facing a lengthy battle at the Court of Session to claw back some of the thousands of pounds that were lost.

Speaking after watching her estranged husband being led away in handcuffs to start his sentence, Mrs Donaldson said: "At last I have some closure on one part of the mess Fraser Donaldson has made of my life. Justice has been done. He is a conman. He said he loved me and then did this to me. He has taken everything.

"I'll never fully recover from the physical, mental and financial trauma caused to me and my family. I still have a battle to retrieve some of the value of my house from the bank.

"I lost my first husband early – to bury one and see the second go away in handcuffs is horrendous.

"The fraud was a total shock. He was using his parents' address as a correspondence address for the mortgage and the bank statements. The first I knew was when someone from the bank came to the door on my birthday and told me."

Donaldson, 54, of Edinburgh, admitted that between August 1, 2009, and August 31, 2010, at Sanderson Place, Newbigging, Angus, he pretended to Birmingham Midshires PLC his wife had signed a mortgage application and induced the firm to process an application, thereby obtaining a remortgage to the value of £120,000 by fraud.

Defence lawyer Nigel Beaumont told the court the initial remortgage was for £60,000, but his client repeated the process twice for a further £30,000 each time.

He said: ""He is very sorry for what he has done to his wife and obviously it has cost him his relationship with her."

Sheriff Peter Paterson jailed Donaldson for eight months, and said: "There is only one disposal open to me, and that is custody."