Wednesday 17 August 2022 02:37 PM CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews last night's TV: The lame watchdog that watched ... trends now
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The Billion-Pound Savings Scandal
Secrets of The Spies
With a ponytail in a knot at the back of his head, so-called online guru Phillip Nunn calls himself the 'abun-dance alchemist'.
'I am not a businessman,' declares Manbun Nunn. 'I am a bringer of light — a light facilitator.'
He's right about one thing. He's no businessman. Bankrupted after the collapse of one of his companies, he spouts self-aggrandising waffle on social media.
But as Panorama revealed in The Billion-Pound Savings Scandal (BBC1), some of Nunn's previous enterprises with partner Patrick McCreesh have appeared far more credible — and cost many people their life savings.
This grimly infuriating investigation interviewed care worker Linda Ryan, 61, who invested £75,000 in Nunn and McCreesh's Blackmore property venture — and lost the lot. 'The last bit of hope has gone,' she said with weary defeat. 'I'm going to carry on working to the end.'
Ordinary people like Linda should never have been able to stake their pension pots in the kind of risky investments promoted by Blackmore Bond, which went under with £46 million of potential losses from some 2,000 investors.
It promised a return of up to 10 per cent and kept signing up investors even after it had been reported to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in 2017. Former RAF serviceman John Robbins lost his entire forces pension fund. 'I'm stuck renting for the rest of my life,' he admitted.
Victim Linda Ryan (pictured), 61, invested £75,000 into Nunn and McCreesh's Blackmore property venture - and lost the lot as