husband 'penniless & sleeping in car after losing £450k due to head injuries'

FORMER England rugby ace Paul Sampson says he was left penniless and sleeping in his car after claiming head injuries made him vulnerable to a devastating £450k scam.

Sampson, who won three England caps and was previously married to Kirsty Gallacher, retired from rugby in 2011 following spells at Wasps and Bath and a stint in rugby league.

Sampson later developed persistent post-concussion syndrome (PPCS), diagnosed in 2023, which he says affected his memory and decision-making.

The rugby ace, now 48,split from Telly star Kirsty in 2015 after 15 years together.

But the dad-of-two – who shares sons Jude, 16, and Oscar, 19, with Kirsty – saw his life unravel a few years later after being persuaded to invest in a supposed defence start-up.

In January 2019, Sampson transferred an initial £50,000 after being shown drone footage and told the firm was bidding for contracts with Nato, the UN and the Government.

He claims he was wined and dined at London’s Special Forces Club and promised a role supporting military mental health – something that appealed as he had trained with the Marines during his rugby days and was studying psychology.

Over the next three months, Sampson made four more payments, taking his total investment to £450,000, reports the Times.

The money came from his savings, a loan from his girlfriend’s parents and proceeds from a property sale and the rugby ace claimed he was pressured into selling his remaining properties to raise more cash.

He also alleged the company directors coached him on what to say if his bank, Barclays, questioned the transactions.

Barclays said it did query the payments but Sampson chose to proceed each time.

The former England rugby man was promised guaranteed returns of £11,000 a month and initially received payments before they suddenly stopped in April 2019.

Contact with the directors then dwindled to texts before cutting off completely.

With no income, Sampson says he lost his home, his relationship broke down and he was forced to sofa surf or sleep in his car, reports the Times.

While trying to recover the cash, he began investigating ongoing headaches, leading to his PPCS diagnosis in 2023.

Sampson said: “It’s only in the past few years I’ve understood the effect it’s had. My brain gets overwhelmed and can’t process situations — it just shuts things out.

“For that reason it took me years to even realise I’d been a victim of a fraud.

“I suspect it’s a vulnerability that the people who took my money could see in me immediately.

“For them it was an opportunity to exploit me while they were pretending to help me. It has devastated my life.”

Sampson has since joined a group legal action launched in 2022 against World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union and the Welsh Rugby Union, who all deny liability.

But nearly seven years on remains without a home and unable to properly see his sons.

Sampson, who still struggles with memory and concentration, is now working 53 hours a week in a warehouse while studying part-time for a master’s in psychology.

He said: “Now I understand the syndrome I can work around it but it’s taken me years to even begin to get back on track.

“I have to live the rest of my life having lost everything.”

After reporting the fraud to Barclays in 2025, Sampson’s claim was rejected for being outside the six-year time limit.

A complaint to the Financial Ombudsman was also dismissed for being too late – with Barclays saying he missed the deadline by two weeks.

Sampson then turned to the National Fraud Helpline, which complained to Barclays and the ombudsman on his behalf, asking it to review its initial rejection of his case, explaining that his physical and mental health stopped him coming forward sooner.

The law firm said: “A brief examination of the accounts filed at Companies House are indicative of a scam company. The figures are almost replicated every year for the past five years.

“It has had £44 in cash for four years. Clearly these are not the accounts of a company that has ever engaged in any legitimate trading.”

Martin Richardson from the National Fraud Helpline told The Sunday Times: “The fraudsters not only took advantage of Sampson’s affinity for the military and desire to work with them in a mental health environment, they clearly also took advantage of his neurological deficits in rushing him into making the supposed investment.

“[He was] induced into making the investment while still going through an extremely difficult period of his life.”

The company won no contracts but is still an active company, according to Companies House records.

Its directors were contacted for comment and either denied wrongdoing or did not respond.

Barclays said: “We have every sympathy for Paul, and the position this has left him in. Five payments were made in early 2019 to two companies.

“When Paul attempted to make the payments, we held four scam prevention conversations with him to check he did not believe he was the subject of a scam. Two were by phone and two face-to-face in branch. At the conclusion he confirmed he wanted the payments to be made.

“All customers have six years to report scams and complaints. Unfortunately, Paul did not do this and the case has fallen outside the deadline. At no point during that time did he tell us he had been scammed.”

The Financial Ombudsman Service said it could not comment on a continuing case.

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