Fiona Phillips scammed out of thousands by phone fraudster after Alzheimer's diagnosis

TV presenter and journalist Fiona Phillips has revealed she was scammed out of thousands of pounds by a telephone fraudster after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease.

The 62-year-old former GMTV host and presenter bravely spoke out yesterday to reveal the shattering diagnosis, saying she got the news last year after she began suffering months of brain fog and anxiety.

Now Fiona has told how she was duped by a conman who targeted her down the phone, although her bank went on to refund the money stolen back into her account.

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Fiona told our sister site, Mirror Online, in an exclusive interview of her hopes over a new clinical trial, saying: "We have to find a cure or way of managing this terrible disease because it is crippling people - and crippling the health service."

She also revealed how she believed 11 years ago she would be diagnosed with the condition one day, saying Alzheimer's had ravaged her family already.

There are events from the last couple of years which the former TV breakfast host now struggles to remember. A conversation with a friend or a night out for dinner with her husband, Martin.

But while such recent memories can now be difficult for Fiona to find, there are other life experiences which sit heavily with her and to which she frequently returns. None more so than the terrible toll Alzheimer's has already taken on her family.

While doctors have explained her condition is not hereditary, they have said she predisposed to it due to her family history. Fiona's mother, Amy, began to be impacted by it in her 50s and died in 2006 aged 74.

"This disease has already taken a whole big chunk out of my