Peter Taylor, 61, printed up convincing-looking flyers and business cards, presenting himself as a legitimate expert, who could obtain good prices at auction for the victims’ property.
Isleworth Crown Court heard the estimated loss to the 11 victims - who knew him as Peter Tillott - is approximately £267,000.
Yesterday Judge Sarah Paneth remanded Taylor in custody until March 31, having adjourned sentencing, announcing: “The sooner he begins serving his sentence the better.”
Taylor had been granted bail after being convicted earlier this year following a lengthy trial to give him the opportunity to make restitution to his many victims.
Trading under his previous legal name of Peter Tillott he operated in and around Kensington; Fulham; Chelsea; Notting Hill and West Brompton in West London.
Taylor, of St. Margarets Road, St. Margarets, Twickenham, was found guilty of eleven counts of fraud relating to each individual complainant between March, 2016 and February, 2019.
He is a veteran of insurance fraud and a £3m tax scam for which he was jailed for four years a decade ago.
One victim Lady Patsy Alliott, 90, is still missing her valuable candlesticks and prints. “She doesn’t know what happened to them,” said prosecutor Katrina Charles.
Lady Patsy’s rosewood jewellery box was valued by Taylor at £700, but he claimed he couldn’t get more than £140 for it.
Yesterday, Ms Charles told the court: “This case involved a number of elderly, vulnerable victims targeted by the defendant, who posted flyers through the letterboxes of individual house or addresses of multiple occupancy.
“He claimed that he was from a genuine Chelsea auction house.”
Taylor operated under the company name ‘Chelsea Auction House’ and ‘Muck2Brass’, listing his 23 year-old son as a director.
“The defendant changed his name for a fresh start because the reputation attached to Peter Tillott had become a liability,” said the prosecutor during the lengthy trial.
One victim, who replied to his business card, was Austrian-born psychoanalyst Karin Syrett, 79, who lives in a £800,00 apartment in Royal Crescent, Notting Hill.
After reporting Taylor to the police he paid her a mere £265 for valuables worth £2,500. “She says this has had an adverse effect on her health,” said Ms Charles.
Also swindled was businesswoman Caroline Shamash, 50, boss of Saffron interior arts, which provides “luxury items” to high-end interior designers.
She says Taylor disappeared with £5,295 worth of her property, including an expensive chandelier of hers she discovered he was selling on eBay.
The businesswoman hunted the evasive Taylor down to his business unit, where she met his son. “He told her the defendant was either out, unwell or in hospital,” explained Ms Charles.
Elderly gent Arnold Rosen says he lost £2,285 worth of furniture Taylor removed in a hire van from his garage to sell at auction, the trial heard.
Another gentleman, Roy Turner, allowed Taylor and two assistants to walk out of his home with a treasured collection of thirty watercolours and prints, resulting in an estimated loss of £5,000-£10,000.
Describing the collection as his “pride and joy” the victim says Taylor valued his property, which had taken a lifetime to collect, at one quarter of its true value.
He was trying to raise funds to assist his son and daughter-in-law buy a property. “I now realise I’m probably a vulnerable old man. I didn’t think I was,” said Mr Turner in his victim impact statement.
A “collectors item” print valued at £1,000 was only worth forty quid, according to Taylor; a King’s Road, Chelsea gallery painting a mere £80 and a valuable Francis Bacon map £80-£100.
French restauranteur Eric Payet, 44, allowed Taylor to clear his two old premises of all their contents and fixtures and fittings, resulting in an estimated loss of £112,000.
“He felt he could trust him because they had a working relationship and met regularly,” said Ms Charles. Mr Payet is now working in Saudi Arabia and feels “embarrassed,” at being conned, the court heard.
Taylor also cleared the home of a Helen Ford’s deceased mother and she found property, including a clock; mink coat; silver coffee pot; music centre; tankards and pair of glass carafes on his eBay account.
He had claimed the property was worthless and the complainant estimates the loss at £2,500 and contributing to countless “sleepless nights.”
The late Gill Miller, who died of cancer aged 77 just before the trial, contacted Taylor after he put his business card through her letterbox and later saw her property for sale online, estimating her loss at £2,500.
She tried to hunt Taylor down and discovered his ‘auction rooms’ were a gutted property. “She says she suffered a huge drop in confidence and suffered sleepless night and anxiety and felt embarrassed and stupid.”
Veteran antiques dealer Maria Gabriela Ponce de Leao, under pressure from her children to relieve pressure on space, allowed Taylor to walk out of her home with 83 antique items.
She had already handed him over her “best antiques” earlier and claims valuables, including bookcases, chairs and a bureau were sold for rock-bottom prices at Lots Road Auctions Chelsea, resulting in a £30,000-£50,000 loss.
“The defendant’s reaction in the witness box was to laugh at the notion she was an antique dealer when he gave evidence in the trial,” said Ms Charles.
The victim says she lost her “financial independence” at the hands of Taylor and suffered “anxiety, panic attacks, sleeplessness, hopelessness and despair.”
There were two more victims of Taylor, the second of which says he lost property worth £50,000 to £100,000.
Taylor was found not guilty of defrauding company director Sheila Newsum, 83, who lives in a £1m West Brompton apartment and responded to Taylor’s business card, which he shoved through her letterbox, the court heard.
She is the Chair and Managing Director of Hunters Associates, an international events company and said she allowed Taylor to remove valuables from her home, suffering a £11,340 loss.
Taylor was also cleared of defrauding another man and woman.
No comments:
Post a Comment