I always had the feeling that one wonderful day I would get my money back with interest and get Palmer put in the clink

Victim Edwin Jenkins

Mr Jenkins, a retired army major of Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, told BBC News Online how he never gave up hope of getting his money back.

"I always had the feeling that one wonderful day I would get my money back with interest and get Palmer put in the clink, or should I say jail. Somebody [I hoped] would take a boat into the Atlantic and throw the key in the deepest part of it."

The scam saw a team of salesmen lying to prospective customers about dream holiday cottages.

Mr Jenkins was approached by a British "tout" while walking to the beach from one of the two Tenerife timeshare apartments he already owned.

"We had a talk, and being two Welshmen together we started talking about rugby and that is how the whole thing started."

'Wonderful proposition'

Mr Jenkins was told he could sell his two apartments for "a colossal profit" if he bought a new one on a different part of the island.

"It was a most wonderful proposition, absolutely marvellous - I would have made thousands on the deal," he recalled.

Mr Jenkins was also told he would be "completely compensated" if his properties failed to sell for the amount promised.

"It was a deal too good to be true - and it was too good to be true."

Palmer must pay up or face further imprisonment

After Mr Jenkins had paid his 13th monthly payment on the new property without receiving anything from the sale of his original two he "smelled a rat".

"Nothing was happening.

"Every time I wrote, they said the money was coming back by return of post - but it never came."

It is thought that 360 holidaymakers could now receive up to �13,000 each.

Mr Jenkins is waiting to see if his "name is on the list".

But the 87-year-old added: "At my age there is not much to spend it on."