London, Jan 23: A love-struck British grandmother holidaying in Turkey had a terrible experience when she lost all her life's savings to a toyboy waiter. On return, her family refused to let her in.
Pat Ekins, today 50, was frozen out by her family and left to sleep on the British streets for having lost her life's savings to a toyboy waiter she fell for during a whirlwind holiday romance, Daily Express reported.
She sold her house without telling her two children to plough 70,000 pounds into a bar in the Turkish seaside resort of Marmaris. After Ekins gave cash to Ibrahim Halin, 18 years junior to her, he vanished from her life.
"I was the black sheep of the family. I spent a week sleeping on a park bench, rummaging through bins for food," Ekins said while admitting that it was "a proper reality check".
Ekins was 46 when she met 28-year-old Halin and would fly to Turkey every couple of months. But things rapidly turned sour after she sold the house in Lancashire.
The proceeds were supposed to be shared with her two grown-up daughters -- Claire and Karen. But Halin had promised Ekins that the cash could be a great investment.
"He told me we'd make the money back and more within a year. So I thought I'd be able to go back to my daughters and give them their share, with some extra," she said.
"I went to Turkey and transferred all the money into his account. He left the apartment saying he was going to sign the papers. But he didn't come back."
Ekins was evicted from the flat and slept on the floor of a Turkish barber's shop until a friend paid for her to return home in Britain. She found her family had nothing to do with her any more.
Later, she turned her life round with the help of homeless charity, by working in their shop in return for a bed and a 35 pounds-a-week allowance.
Today, Ekins lives in Essex and has no intention to return.
