MUM-of-three Chrissy Handy’s stomach dropped when her sister-in-law uttered the words that would change her relationship with partner Alexander forever.

“‘I hope you’re not financially involved with Alexander”, Anna told her – before revealing that they had discovered her charming businessman partner was a serial fraudster.

When divorced Christine, 57, first met Alexander he had swept her off her feet with romantic gestures and talking of plans for the future.

He claimed his full name was Alexander Marc d’Ariken de Rothschild-Hatton, and said he was the illegitimate son of multi-millionaire banker Edmund de Rothschild – but his actual name was later discovered to be Marc Hatton.

As well as his impressive family connections, ‘Alexander’ told Christine he was Eton and Oxford-educated and had a career in international finance, none of which turned out to be true.

He was in fact born in Singapore to a woman named Philomena and a man called Peter Ariken. Philomen later married a Fred Hatton.

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Chrissy and Alexander were together three years and even had a son together, Marcus, and Christine had thought nothing of giving Alexander £75,000 to cover fees for his MBA at London Business school in 2003.

She later went on to hand over £100,000 to fund another business course, £105,000 to put in a Swiss investment fund and £50,000 to cover a tax bill for Hatton.

The unsuspecting mum would eventually lose £565,000 and Alexander would end up in jail for fraud.

Christine has now written a book, Seduced by a Sociopath, which details the moment Alexander’s lies started to catch up with him.

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In the book, which has been serialised by Metro, Chrissy said Anna had come round when they learned the shocking truth about Alexander.

She wrote: “Before I had even had a chance to answer, my sister-in-law Anna was talking, telling me that my partner Alexander was a serial fraudster who had defrauded an Italian woman called Barbara, and even swindled his brother Mason.

“I could barely take it in. I was panic-stricken, my mind racing as I tried to keep it all in.

“Could it be true that the man with whom I had spent three years of my life, and with whom I had a son, was a fraudster? If so, had he stolen from me? I told myself it couldn’t be possible – that the father of my child couldn’t possibly do that to me.”

When Chrissy confronted Alexander, he denied all claims and said that Anna was trying to “poison” her against him.

He also assured her that the money was safe – but kept giving reasons why she couldn’t get it back immediately.

After she started to run out of money, she asked him face-to-face for her cash back and was left “out of breath” by his aggressive reaction.

She wrote: “‘F*** off, b*tch,’ he said, before slamming the door in my face. I couldn’t believe it. The veneer had slipped for the first time, and in the most horrible way. This was an entirely different side to the man I loved, and I could barely stomach it.”

Could it be true that the man with whom I had spent three years of my life, and with whom I had a son, was a fraudster? If so, had he stolen from me?

Alexander eventually disappeared without repaying her the money.

Christine said: "I realised I had lost everything.

"I’d been a total fool. It was like living in a bizarre dream — all I could do was take every day as it came and try to keep life as normal as possible for the kids.

"Overall, he was involved with around 20 other women throughout our time together. Everything we had was a sham."

In 2000 Hatton was given an 18 month prison sentence for defrauding two Bournemouth businessmen and a 21-month prison sentence in Helsinki, Finland, for unpaid business debts and fraud.

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In 2008, he was charged with the rape and assault of a teenage girl he had introduced to Christine several times as the daughter of an old schoolfriend.

Four years earlier, he had paid for an abortion for the girl at the same time Christine was three months pregnant with Marcus.

While Hatton did his best to evade justice by fleeing to the U.S., he was extradited to the UK in 2008 and, in March 2010, was jailed for 18 years for rape, sexual assault and fraud.

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