‘I loved Janet… Why would I want to kill her?’: Ghanaian lover of British widow scammed out of £1million before crash death hits back at ‘murder’ claims

The Ghanaian lover of a British woman who was defrauded of her £1 million savings before dying in a mysterious car crash has condemned her family, who claimed she was murdered.

Janet Fordham, 69, was cheated out of a huge sum of money after she was brutally targeted by romance scammers, including a man claiming to be a major in the British Army, as her family were helpless to stop her.

The retired butler was poor, unable to afford food and living in a caravan at his son Martin’s farmhouse in Devon.

Then, weeks before she died in a car crash, Janet, left alone after the death of her second husband, traveled to West Africa after meeting a man named Daniel ‘Kofi’ Agyapong on Facebook. The man apparently took pity on her and claimed he would help her get her money back.

Janet’s family told the Daily Mail over the weekend that they were convinced the woman was killed in Ghana after fraudsters there claimed the car crash in which she died was planned after realizing she had no money left.

But Mr Agyapong, 52, hit back at his grieving family today, insisting the two were in love and would marry and build a house in Africa.

Speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail, he said Janet was ‘lonely and miserable’ in the UK.

Mr Agyapong, 53, who claimed involvement in her death, said: ‘I loved Janet, she was my girlfriend and we were very much in love, we were planning to get married when she was killed.

Janet died in a car accident in Ghana, where she moved in with Kofi after he swindled her out of her life savings.

This is the car in which Janet and Kofi traveled after the crash that left the British grandmother with a fatal head injury

‘We were going to meet my family and tell them that we were getting married, we had a wedding license, everything was in place, he was very happy to be with me and said he had never been happier.

‘I loved him so much, I think about him every day, I miss him and all I want to do is go to England, put flowers on his grave and cry. He wanted to build a life with me in Ghana, he was happy here.

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‘The family is wrong when they say I was involved; Every day I think about what happened, it was an accident, he wasn’t wearing a seat belt, he would have survived if he had, I should have checked.

‘I held him in my arms until the emergency services arrived, they took him to hospital and the doctors did everything they could but there was nothing they could do, he had suffered a bad blow to the head.

‘I was injured too and still have pain in my neck, but I would give anything to have Janet here with me now.’

An investigation last week heard how Janet was deceived by fraudsters based in the UK, Germany, Ghana and the US and was flown to Africa in October 2022 to meet Mr Agyapong, who promised to get her money back.

Over the next few months, Janet traveled from her home in Honiton, Devon, to Accra, Ghana, to be with him.

They got engaged and it was on Valentine’s Day 2023 when she was driving to see relatives in nearby Oti to tell them that he had tragically died.

Recalling the accident, he said: ‘The road was narrow and was being repaired. We were heading towards where my family lived, then another car came towards me and was overtaking me.

‘There was nothing I could do, I swerved to avoid it and we went off the road twice, rolled over, hit a tree, there was nothing I could do and I take full responsibility for what happened.

Janet and her son Martin, who claimed foul play in his death

Janet was described as a “very cunning woman” before she was attacked by scammers

‘I was lucky I wasn’t killed but Janet was in a bad condition so I held her until the ambulance arrived and went to hospital with her. We had stopped for a break earlier and when we got back to the car he wasn’t wearing his seat belt. If he had, he would have survived.’

Reacting angrily to claims he was involved in her death he said: ‘Do you not think the Ghana police would have investigated this fully? Why would I want to kill him? I loved Janet and she loved me. It was an accident, for God’s sake.

‘Janet was only happy when she was in Ghana with me. They just want to tarnish my image.

‘I was not covered by any insurance and have no money to pay hospital and medical bills. They need to know that I loved Janet so much that I held her in my arms as she died.

‘We were going to get married so that he could stay here and stay with me in Ghana, he was happy here. We were loyal to each other. She lived at my house, she was happier here than in England, she was a very beautiful woman and we loved each other.

‘In England he felt lonely and sad but here in Ghana he was happy, he had a smile on his face and we sent him pictures of his family to show that. ‘They can’t say I was involved, it’s wrong.’

Mr Agyapong said: ‘We met on Facebook and he told me all about the people who defrauded him and I said I would help him get his money back. We talked and he said he would come and visit me.

‘Our plan was to find the crooks, call the police and have them arrested, we were so close but then he died. I want Janet’s family to know that I’m not a bad person; I wanted to help him because I loved him. ‘I am an innocent man.’

Police sources in Ghana confirmed that a senior official from the UK High Commission in Accra attended Janet’s autopsy and rejected further investigation, accepting the findings of death due to a road accident.

An official report confirmed that the accident occurred after Agyapong, described as a professional driver, swerved his Suzuki Altos off the road to avoid an oncoming car.

It adds how Janet was ‘found unconscious’ and taken to Peking General Hospital, where she died from ‘severe head trauma’.

The statement confirmed that Janet arrived in Ghana in October 2022 and lived with Agyapong until her death the following February.

He describes the accident as follows: ‘The driver and the deceased were on their way to Nkonya-Wuropong to visit relatives of the accused.

‘But when he reached a stretch of road at Sodizikope near Kpeve, the accused driver claimed that an oncoming vehicle had invaded his lane and he swerved to avoid a head-on collision, resulting in the car overturning and hitting a large tree in the nearby bush.’

A police spokesman in Accra told the Daily Mail there were no allegations of foul play.

He added: ‘As the victim was a UK national the High Commission in Accra was informed and a liaison officer attended the autopsy of the deceased at the local hospital.

‘The pathologist decided that the death was due to head trauma following a traffic accident and that the deceased was not wearing a seat belt.

‘There were initial suspicions that there might have been something wrong, but this was disregarded and further investigations would have been carried out if the High Commission liaison officer had suspected anything, but they were satisfied that the death was due to a road accident.’

Agyapong was eventually convicted of careless driving and given a suspended prison sentence and a fine.