we both know that rules which may be appear effective on paper are not so easy to enforce in reality
The sale of a home is very easy to detect. It's all registered at the land registry.

I agree with both yourself and Snowy that there are ways to protect your wealth.
Some are entirely legal and above board, other ways are shall we say more resourceful.
Personally I would prefer to be on the right side of the law and have peace of mind rather than have my long term situation dependent on no-one finding out.

but I do need to wise-up and I will
Great, me too.
There is a lot of info at
http://www.ageuk.org.uk/
They do loads of factsheets and even books.
I do think professional advice is a good idea, but personally I'd spend some time doing my own research from the internet and books, so that when you are being charged £250 per hour by the solicitor, you are well informed and at least know what questions to ask.