The grieving husband https://bvespirita.com/ of murdered PCSO Julia James had his bank account emptied of savings left to him by his wife by duplicitous scammers.

Widower Paul James was conned by ruthless fraudsters who used a fake parcel delivery message to enable them to get access to his account.

Now following this financial blow after the heartbreak of his wife’s murder he is warning others not to fall for the same trap saying: ‘She was taken from me and now this!!’

PSCO Julia James, 53, was attacked as she walked her dog Toby through fields and woodland near her home in April last year.

She was bludgeoned to death with a railway jack by Callum Wheeler, 22, in a shocking stranger attack.

He was jailed for life last Friday and will have to serve a minimum 37 years before he is eligible for parole following the horrific attack near Aylesham, Kent which stunned the nation.

Posting on his facebook page Mr James warned: ‘I just want people to be aware of scammers!

‘I have been a victim of a scammer that sent a text regarding my parcel…they contacted me and accessed my phone, they changed their number to match the banks details… they have then emptied my bank account they were extremely clever & convincing & had all my information & had also set up a false payment on my account so I was aware to contact the bank about it.

‘All I had was money from my beloved Julia James, she was taken from me and now this!!Please be vigilant on your phones and what you respond to. X’

It is understood that Mr James has reported the crime to Action Fraud.

‘Missed parcel’ scams work by sending a text message to a victim that looks like a genuine text from a legitimate delivery company, such as Royal Mail or DPD.

The links in these messages will redirect the victim to a download page, asking the user to install a ‘tracking app’ or ‘anti-virus software’ – however in reality this is spyware that can steal banking details and secure passwords.

The most common ‘banking trojans’ are called FluBot and Anatsa, according to the National Cybersecurity Centre (NCSC). 

At Wheeler’s sentencing at Canterbury Crown Court in Kent on Friday, July 8, Mr James said in an emotional victim impact statement: ‘My life was finally complete when I married my soulmate.Now my hopes and dreams have been taken from me.

‘I truly felt I died too. My life has been jolted by the devastation and trauma. We went everywhere together. How do I do these things alone?’ 

‘Losing my wife to the hands of another human being is just incomprehensible to me – I just exist and I don’t have the motivation to do anything.’

He struggled to speak as he described how much he loved and missed the mum-of-two, who had joined Kent Police in August 2008 and was assigned to a specialist role with a domestic violence unit when she was killed.

Mr James added: ‘I wonder what she went through in her last moments – I cannot sleep at night.What do I do without her?’

Over the course of the trial, Mr James said: ‘We are who we are, and we speak from our hearts.

‘To say it was difficult – there’s no words for that. It literally just ripped us all apart, it truly did.’