PLEASE HELP - Man Ruined Mum's Life

attempt4

Hi folks,
This is a thread in search of advice. I really need to help my mother, who unfortunately married an incredibly manipulative, horrible guy several years ago.

Background
To cut a very long story short, he basically hid a huge gambling problem from her and gambled away all the money on the house.

We only had a small house, and it was the only thing my mum had. She was left alone and helpless by my real father and had nothing, no money (we are not a well-off family by any stretch of the word...minimum wage all round) or anything.
It all came out last year that he took her for £80,000. Turns out he is actually quite the conman, as he conned a lot of old "friends" and even his ex-wife (for £40,000 which he kept quiet, citing the reason for divorcing as "my ex wife was a crazy b*!#h!") He constantly is harassing her at the moment, never leaving her alone and trying to manipulate her into going back to him.
She was suicidal...she tried so hard to raise kids on a basic wage, and he went and took complete advantage of her, constantly lying to her, took all of what little savings she had and taking out credit cards to her detriment and loss.
So she is suffering extreme depression again, and has moved back home to what very little family we have left. She feels like there is no point going on, she has nothing left to live for and at 51, has no reason to try or do anything about anything at all.
She is incredibly alone and I really just want to help her so bad, at least recover some losses. She has nothing to retire with whatsoever now, after working so hard to pay off that modest house.

How To
I was wondering if it's at all possible to get legal help to recover money here.
~ She obviously can't afford a lawyer, but would legal aid suffice or even apply?
She really doesn't want nor has the strength to go through court proceedings, and she isn't even one to want to make a fuss by taking someone to court. She doesn't have enough strength to be that angry and thus motivated, sadly. Hence my thread-making

~ So how could she recover losses? The guy has very little money, of course. Is there anything she could do?

~ Also, she doesn't think she could get a mortgage now (at 51 years old, and as someone on a low wage).....How likely is this?

Plans For The Future
She has £5,000 to her name for the rest of her life and that's it. She has always dreamed of having her own little dog-walking and dog-care service.
I think it would be great for her to have a business for a plethora of reasons, not least the self-satisfaction, change of job and potential to earn a little more.
~ Would £5,000 be sufficient to invest as start-up capital on a modest business such as this? I'm sure there are forms of business grants to help budding self-employment. Where could she get advice if anywhere for this kind of thing?
This is a bit of a long shot, I know, and I apologize for asking as this isn't a business-starting forum. I just thought it'd be worth asking since we are both so clueless, and it's worth a shot

So that's it! I appreciate any responses

whitewing

Could she volunteer at a dog home initially? This may be a great way of getting some experience and contacts and perhaps building her awareness of all things dog-related.

lulabelle

Can she try citizens advice bureau to start? If he's got no money there's probably not much point pursuing him and as I understand it legal aid is v restricted these days

Sparkly_Lady

For business advice maybe the Prince's Trust could help. I believe they now help the over 50s as well as young people.

elsien

Re the dog walking/pet care business, do a search for old threads in the pet bit of the forum. The question's been asked a few times, and there's a lot to take into account (eg cover for holidays and illness), not least what other businesses are already operating in your area. It will give her a starting point anyway.

Re the house - did he defraud her eg by forging signatures, or did her persuade her to hand the money over/take out loans in her own name? That may make a difference as to what actions are possible.