EXCLUSIVE: Irish lothario conman tracked to the Costa del Sol

AN Irish lothario who seduced an American woman and then conned her out of €80,000 has turned up on the Costa del Sol.

Sean Whelan has joined a dating website, despite tricking Florida-based Annie Predun out of her life savings in 2007, after meeting on a similar site.

The 60-year-old, from Dublin, has now set up an account with Costa del Sol dating site Connectingsingles.es, which states he is ‘living and working in Manilva’.

Introducing himself as a ‘widowed Irish businessman’ with a Masters degree, he insists he is a ‘sensitive and caring’ man.

“I know how to treat a lady and seek a confident, kind and intelligent lady,” he continues, under the username ‘Tullyview’.

Luckily however, one eagle-eyed expat from Marbella has come forward, having been for a date with the trickster.

The 71-year-old mother-of-two, from Leeds, who met Whelan for lunch at the H10 hotel in Nueva Andalucia, now wants to warn other expats of his dubious past.

Dressed smartly and driving a silver Audi, he seemed like a true gentleman, she told the Olive Press.

“But then I Googled him, and I couldn’t believe what I was reading,” she said.

“It’s lucky that I was curious, but I am sure many other women could fall into the same trap as his first victim.”

The ‘love-rat conman’ met his first victim Predun via dating site Match.com in June 2007.

Within a week of meeting the 52-year-old, Whelan flew from Ireland to Florida and just days later they were discussing marriage.

He promised her a dream lifestyle dividing their time between the US, Ireland and Mauritius.

He also promised to invest her $100,000 life savings in an offshore bank in Mauritius – where he allegedly had business connections – as part of what he called ‘Project Annie’.

After he had received the money, Whelan returned to Ireland saying he would return a week later, but an endless string of excuses kept him away.

Eventually, Predun got a lawyer, and in October 2009 she was awarded a court judgement against her ex-lover.

When contacted last night, Whelan denied all knowledge of the dating profile on Connectingsingles.es, and insisted that he had not met up with any women on the coast.

When asked about his history with Annie Predun, he said ‘that was a long time ago’.