AN elderly charity fundraiser who dedicated years to raising cash to help sufferers of the disease which robbed her of two husbands was stung for £6,000 by a con artist.

Eileen Rhodes, 86, has raised thousands of pounds for cancer charities – but was left “devastated” when one of her fundraising efforts cost her thousands of her savings.

The grandmother, of Poppleton, lost her first husband of 40 years, Jim Smart, in 1983, when he died of prostate cancer.

Two years later, Eileen was remarried, to Cliff Rhodes, only eight weeks after meeting him. But once again she had to deal with losing a husband when he fell ill with leukaemia and died in 1994.

After Cliff’s death, Eileen began fundraising to help cancer sufferers – in particular for St Leonard’s Hospice, in York, where Cliff spent his final days.

In September 2008, Eileen planned to throw open her house for a coffee morning and a table-top sale for the charity.

But her efforts saw her savings stolen when Sharon Farrar, of Doncaster, befriended the pensioner Farrar, 37, lied and told Eileen that her own mother had also suffered with cancer and died in a hospice.

She then offered to replace Eileen’s driveway for the open day and offered her £100 towards the charity.

But when the work was completed – at a cost of £1,500 – Farrar took Eileen to the bank and told her to cough up £6,000 for the work.

Trading Standards eventually caught up with Farrar and she pleaded guilty at York Crown Court to fraud by misrepresentation. She is due to be sentenced on June 17.

A spokesman for the City of York Council said an application for compensation had already been put in place.

Last year, Eileen won praise and admiration when she raised £4,000 after battling her way around the inaugural Jane Tomlinson York 10K despite suffering from lymphedema.

The condition causes Eileen’s legs to swell due to the abnormal retention of lymph fluid in her body tissues -and it means she often struggles to walk. The sprightly pensioner still aims to take on the ten kilometre course again this year.