Fake SAS Ladies Man Jailed For £111,000 Con

Fitt: Fake Colonel Got Four Years

A fake SAS Colonel love-rat, who swindled and stole £111,137 from two girlfriends, a retired chief superintendent and an investor, has received four years.

Ladies man Mark Fitt, 43, described by one ex as “charming and charismatic” wowed his victims with tall tales of serving in the special forces and French Foreign Legion.

He was dating a policewoman while stealing from another girlfriend, who he convinced his company - N49 Intelligence - was going to make a fortune in the Middle-East and Africa.

Fitt, of James Terrace, Mortlake was found guilty of stealing £33,690 from business analyst Hilary Davies, 57, and £45,874 from interior designer Tracey Saunders, 45.

He was also convicted of defrauding retired police chief superintendent Mark Veljovic, 59, of £30,000 and stealing £1600 from investor Oliver Tonkin.

Nicknamed ‘Colonel Blimp’ by an ex Fitt dated Davies and Saunders simultaneously while they financed his lifestyle of drinking and holding court in the pubs of leafy Barnes.

“The four offences all involved taking money from people you met socially, who were told you were setting-up a counter-kidnap and ransom business in the Middle-East,” Recorder John Kingston told Fitt.

“You persuaded them to give you money to tide you over while you got the business off the ground and you were in a relationship with the two women and these relationships overlapped.

“You exaggerated your military experience and contacts and the business had little chance of success and you knew it.

“These were particularly nasty offences and the two women were susceptible to being taken in by a man who had entered into a romantic relationship with them.

“Their vulnerability was based on their romantic attachment to you and these offences have had a major impact on both of them

Davies: Lost £33,690

“You got them to finance your lifestyle. In the case of Tracey Saunders it was her entire savings and you knew it.”

Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court heard Fitt claim to come from a military family and serve six years in the Queen’s Dragoon Guards.

He claimed to be an expert in kidnapping and extortion with large companies and insurers willing to pay £200,000-£300,000 per quarter for his skills in trouble-spots like Libya and Somalia.

“I thought he was very charming, his voice was quite hypnotic and I trusted him as a nice character,” said Ms Davies. “I was hoping it would be a relationship at one point.”

Ms Saunders told the jury: “I was very worried about him, his stress levels and financial situation. I cared about him and wanted to help.”

While dating Ms Saunders Fitt was seeing policewoman Zoe Richardson and defrauded her housemate, Mr. Veljovic.

One witness told the court Fitt sported a regimental tie in the pub one Remembrance Sunday and proudly displayed nine service medals, some SAS, for service in Iraq and Afghanistan.

However, Fitt denied this, explaining: “They were fake, they were not real and I had them when I dressed up as Colonel Gadaffi at a fancy dress party.”

Ms Davis explained: “He said he was a specialist with UK special forces and the UK security services.

“He was very persuasive and I felt empathy towards him. I still had funds in my limited company and felt I wanted to help him and felt that he was building up his future.”

Ms Davies told the court their relationship revolved around meetings and conversations. When asked if it was a sexual relationship she replied: “Not very actively.”

Saunders: Swindled Of £45,874

Within weeks Fitt was asking her for cash to tide his business over. “He was a confident person and gave me the impression he had money in the past.

“I wanted to help him and he was very charismatic,” explained Ms Davies, who also paid Fitt’s rent and what she believed were flights to overseas business meetings.

She funded his non-existent speaking engagement at a London Expo after being impressed by his ‘Project Phoebe’ business plan.

“The revenue forecasts ran into several millions of pounds. This was dishonest and to persuade her and other people to give money,” said prosecutor Mr. Tim Starkey.

She bumped into Fitt at a local cafe in March, 2013. “He was with another woman and wanted to blank me.

“I was so angry I just spluttered out: ‘Where’s my money. I want my money back.’

“He said I was hassling him and that I was a stalker and he was going to call the police.”

Witnesses mentioned three other women Fitt was seeing at different times during the period and he is now engaged to another woman he runs a company with.

He told Ms Saunders - who knew him as ‘Charlie’ - he had PTSD and began asking her for money after claiming the Foreign Office cancelled one of his contracts. 

She gave him £2,500 for a business trip to Nigeria; £5,000 for a trip to Somalia and also paid his utility bills and financed a three-week Thailand holiday for the couple.

Veljovic: Defrauded Of £30,000

He also signed-on for Jobseekers Allowance and enjoyed holidays to Tenerife and Majorca as well as a trip to the Bahamas and business class flights to Marseilles.

Throughout the trial he insisted he only told people he was merely trained by ex-SAS and French Foreign Legion soldiers in relation to his bodyguard work in Beirut.

He produced false business plans to convince Mr. Veljovic his company would received a lucrative retainer from insurance underwriters.

He even falsely claimed his company was endorsed by the former head of the Met’s kidnap and hostage unit.

“He spent Mr. Veljovic’s investment on a year’s rent,” added Mr. Starkey.

Fitt introduced himself in a local pub as a Colonel to the retired police officer. “He aid he was working on government contracts in the Middle East with other senior military leaders.

“He said he won a contract for kidnap response services and I had no reason to doubt his capabilities, given his links to senior military figures,” said Mr. Veljovic.

Fitt said he never passed himself off as a high-ranking officer. “The closest was my girlfriend Zoe’s nickname for me, she called me Colonel Blimp.”

He will now be subject to a Proceeds of Crime Act investigation after revealing he is a 16% shareholder in an internet company with his fiancé.