Fake SAS Hero Accused Of £129K Swindle

"Charming": Fitt

A “charming” and “charismatic” fraudster, who boasted he was ex-SAS, stole and swindled £129,000 out of two girlfriends, a retired senior cop and a fourth investor in his non-existent security intelligence company, a court heard.

Mark Fitt, 43, convinced them he was Colonel in the British Army, having also served in the French Foreign Legion  and had lucrative contracts to work in world trouble-spots, the jury were told.

“I thought he was very charming, his voice was quite hypnotic and I trusted him as a nice character,” business analyst Hilary Davies, 57, told Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court.

She met Fitt, who is accused of stealing £33,690 from her, in a local Barnes pub in November, 2011 and admitted: “I was hoping it would be a relationship at one point.”

Fitt denies also stealing £45,874 from interior designer Tracey Saunders, 45, who said: “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 denies defrauding her housemate, retied Chief Superintendent Mark Veljovic, 59, of £30,000.

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

"I Trusted": Hilary Davies

Ms Davis explained: “He said he was orphaned and had no family life and it appeared quite hardcore, whatever he had been working in.

“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.”

Prosecutor Mr. Tim Starkey told the jury Fitt convinced his victims he had landed contracts for his company N49 Intelligence as an anti-piracy consultant in Somalia.

“He does have a military background, but it is limited to two years in the Army and a couple of years in the part-time TA.”

Work also supposedly took him to Togo and the Middle East as a counter-terrorism advisor for government agencies, the court was told, with Fitt a particular specialist in kidnapping and ransoms.

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.”

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,” added Mr. Starkey.

They were together around a year and Ms Davies added: “I believed always that he’d make good and pay me back otherwise it was like having a child always coming to the sweet shop for more sweets.

"I Cared": Tracey Saunders

“He did not want to have any contact with me at all and said: ‘I don’t owe you anything.’ I got really angered, I wanted my money.”

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.”

Mr. Starkey told the jury Fitt dated Ms Saunders from September, 2012 to October, 2013. “He presented himself as someone in MI6 and a colonel in the Army.

“He said he was involved in operations in Syria to eliminate key people in the Asad regime and had experienced Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of his active service.”

Fitt began asking for money after claiming the Foreign Office cancelled one of his contracts, the court heard. 

Ms Saunders 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.

In Knightsbridge’s Millennium Hotel Fitt told her the Somalia trip was going to be a six-month operation. “She felt upset and deceived.

“However he continued contacting her, asking for more money.” A further £2,200 was taken from Ms Saunders, who has only received a tenner in return.

£30,000: Mark Veljovic

They first met in a Barnes pub, with Fitt introducing himself as ‘Charlie’. “It was clear he had been very high up in the military, serving in the Middle East and Africa in security work.”

She said Fitt also told her he was in the intelligence service and ex-French foreign Legion. “He said the British government just pulled a contract, leaving him in dire financial circumstances.”

The designer also financed one Nigeria business trip only to find Fitt in another Barnes pub. “I was very upset and confused.”

The ladies man, who the trial heard dated at least three other women at differing times, told Ms Saunders another trip she was financing was suddenly a six-month operation.

“I was completely lived, shocked and confused and ended the relationship and he was concerned because he needed the final part of the money.

“He was begging me to pay the final instalment or the trip would be cancelled and I’d have no chance of getting my money.”

The jury were told Fitt produced false business plans to convince retired police officer Mr. Veljovic his company would received a retainer of up to £300,000 per quarter 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 said 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.”

Fitt, of James Terrace, Mortlake has pleaded not guilty to stealing £33,690 from Ms Davies; £45,874 from Ms Saunders; £19,570 from Oliver Tonkin and defrauding Mr. Veljovic of £30,000 between November 24, 2011 and March 14, 2014.

Trial continues………

Ex West Ham & Charlton Athletic Star Burgled House During Bizarre Cocaine And Booze-Fueled 'Treasure Hunt'

"Treasure Hunt": Newton

Former football star Shaun Newton has been convicted of burgling a neighbour after a jury rejected his claim he was high on cocaine and obsessed with a bizarre fortieth birthday treasure-hunt.

The ex-West Ham United and Charlton Athletic midfielder, 41, was caught by the occupant rummaging through the man’s belongings, claiming he was looking for car keys when challenged.

Camberwell-born father-of-three Newton, of Glenister Park Road, Streatham, who also represented England’s U-21’s, has been ordered to complete 100 hours community service. 

“He is at a crossroads and his friendship circle tell him he is a superstar and does not need guidance or support,” said Mr. Alex Radley, defending.

“He certainly has not found his feet after football. It is a massive change to his lifestyle and he now lives a day-to-day hand-to-mouth existence.”

Newton, who lives off £1,000 per month rent from two Bow properties, was also ordered to pay £1500 costs an £85 victim surcharge and was fined £200 for jumping bail earlier this year.

“It’s clear you were high on cocaine and alcohol and maybe that’s why you committed the burglary,” Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court Recorder Ian Peddie QC told Newton yesterday.

Dinner Time: Samuel Mintah

“Fortunately nothing was taken and in the witness box you gave a bizarre account of your actions, enough to cause the jury and myself to be concerned about your mental health.”

Football bad-boy Newton, who also played for Wolverhampton Wanderers, was suspended for seven months in 2006 after testing positive for cocaine after West Ham’s FA Cup semi-final victory over Middlesbrough.

In 2008 he received a suspended prison sentence for perverting the course of justice after accepting money from England forwards Teddy Sheringham and Bobby Zamora in exchange for ‘losing’ their speeding tickets.

He was arrested when police were called to the Miles Road, Mitcham house on May 15, last year, where upstairs occupant Samuel Mintah was enjoying his evening meal at 6pm.

“I saw someone open the door and come in and start searching my bags,” he explained. 

“I said: ‘What are you doing?’ and he said he was looking for a friend’s car key and I told him his friend does not live in this house.

“He started searching. He was going through items by the window as well as the bags on the floor.

“I became enraged and said: ’No! Your friend isn’t living here, this is my room.”

Mr. Mintah called down for another resident, Martin Amunkwaa, to call the police. “The man then wanted to slip away and was begging me to let him go.

“I blocked the way and we waited for the police to come.

“He was very calm and looked like someone who had not slept for some time.”

Break-In: Miles Road

Newton told the jury his fortieth birthday celebration was a wild year-long affair and the day of his arrest was no exception.

“It was along weekend and I was tired and disorientated and confused by the tricks that were played on me at the time.

“I was led to believe there was a car, a Range Rover or whatever, and I was hunting for it. I pulled apart my whole house looking for keys.

“There were things in my house leading me to number plates, stuff like that and I was led to believe I had to do certain things like breaking glass.”

As a result Newton admits he threw two bricks at the windows of a stranger’s parked Porsche. “They just bounced off.

“I was in some treasure hunt or I thought I was,” added Newton. 

“I thought that was where my friend lives, I’d been up a couple of days anyway and I was let in by a man who was on the phone.

Playing Pomp: Newton

“I went upstairs and I was sure the keys were on the windowsill and I was looking for the rest of the clues to solve the puzzle I thought I was in.

“I searched around and I thought the man in the room was part of what was going on until he grabbed hold of me.

“I apologised, I put my hands up and said I had made a mistake and had not done anything wrong.”    

Prosecutor Mr. Richard Witcombe told the court Newton had his hood up as he roamed around the property, having leaned in and taken the front door keys from inside the kitchen window.

“He was giving the impression he had every right to be in the room even though the occupant did not know who on earth he was.”

The same occupant saw his set of keys in Newton’s hand after he was confronted upstairs.

Ex-EastEnders Actress Leanne Lakey Denies Cocaine Smuggling Charge

Court: Lakey

Former EastEnders actress Leanne Lakey has appeared in court accused of smuggling nearly three kilos of cocaine, hidden in the bottom of a suitcase.

The 39 year-old actress, who played Belinda Peacock in the BBC soap between 2001 and 2003, denied the charge at Croydon Crown Court.

Waitress Lakey, of Parklands Drive, Chelmsford, Essex - who also appeared in Family Affairs - will return for a three-day trial on December 18.

She appeared in the dock with Dean Shanahan, 47, of The Ridgeway, Colindale.

Trial: Shanahan

Both pleaded not guilty to one count of importing the Class A drug at Gatwick Airport on December 1, last year.

The prosecution say the cocaine was found in Shanahan’s case and the pair were together in a joint enterprise.

The actress trained at Chiswick’s Arts Educational School and has also appeared in Casualty, The Bill and Holby City.

Both were bailed on condition they reside at their recorded addresses and Shanahan must obey an electronically-tagged curfew between 10pm and 7am.

Lacey will also be allowed to stay at her boyfriend’s place in Chaucer Road, Bedford with the court’s permission.

Popular Philosophy Schoolteacher Caught With Child Abuse Images

Swift Exit: McStraw

A popular schoolteacher’s career is in ruins after he was caught with images of online child abuse during a police raid at his home address.

Philosophy teacher Richard McStraw, 30, also chatted on teen websites and investigators found multiple searches on his laptop for sexually-explicit images of young girls.

Jobless McStraw, of Beckenham Road, Bromley pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing a total of 65 Category B and C images.

He received six months imprisonment, suspended for twelve months.

He taught at Bromley’s Ravensbourne School, a mixed secondary comprehensive of 1500 pupils.

Online tributes from children he taught remain online and include: “We miss him, wherever he may be. Gone too soon,” and simply: “Legend.”

Croydon Crown Court heard officers executed a search warrant on January 25, last year and found sick online images of girls as young as seven years-old being subject to adult sexual abuse.  

McStraw, who claims he had just come out of an 18-month relationship and was depressed, had been searching for young girls online from August 19, 2013.

He typed in such search terms as: ‘young teen underwear,’ ‘young teen modelling,’ ‘underage girls,’ ‘exploited teens’, ‘black teen sex,’ ‘young black girl,’ ‘naughty teen’ ‘naughty schoolgirl’ and ‘underage teen slut.’

His lawyer Mr. Robert Newcombe told the court: “He’s never going to be a teacher again. He’s lost his job and career.

“It was a career he enjoyed and one that gave him satisfaction. He had a lot of responsibility in the role.

“It’s going to be difficult for him to get a job with this conviction. He is a man well-liked by his friends who describe him as reliable and trustworthy.

“He was single and going through a bad patch. His new girlfriend has stood with him.

Going, Going, Gone: McStraw

“They have plans for a family and he hopes he can put this sorry episode behind him.

“In his teaching career there is no allegation he has acted improperly towards children in his care.”

Recorder James Dawson said: “These are actual children being forced or coerced to do these acts and it is done so that people like you can look at them.

“It seems you ended a relationship of eighteen months and were particularly lonely and isolated at the time.”

McStraw was also ordered to complete a 25-day rehabilitation requirement. “That is to address your sexual problems,” the Recorder told him.

He was also made subject to a five-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order restricting his internet use, was placed on the sex offenders register and must complete 150 hours community service work.

Xmas Club Treasurer Nicked £15K To Chase £4.5m Nigerian Scam

The treasurer of a social club’s Christmas fund cheated pensioner friends of twenty years out of £15,000 as she chased a bogus £4.5m fortune.

Pamela Dooner, 74, was herself the victim of a Nigeria-based scam and now lives alone, having been kicked-out by her husband and shunned by friends and family.

“This is an extraordinary case of betrayal, greed and gullibility,” Recorder Richard Prior told her. “All this in pursuit of a highly-speculative gain or highly-dubious windfall.”

Dooner, who had been treasurer for a decade at the United Services & Services Rendered Club, Balham, received fourteen months imprisonment, suspended for eighteen months.

“She has destroyed her little community,” probation officer Mervyn Fox told Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court. “She cannot believe she has put her community and family through sheer hell.

“The sheer shame has caused her to leave her home and she does not even see her two daughters.”

Dooner, of Hope Street, Sheerness, Kent pleaded guilty to stealing £950 from Sylvia McLeod, 80; £1100 from Audrey Taylor, 82; £3,000 from Sheila Burton, 84; £1,000 from Kathleen Selwood, 80 and £6,000 from Josephine Wilkins, 70.

She also pleaded guilty defrauding Nancy Elliot, 76, out of £3,000 and attempting to defraud Mrs Wilkins out of a further £3,000.

“For you it has been a tragic outcome. You have managed to ruin your own life,” Recorder Prior told her. “You were driven almost by a madness on your part and a lack of care for your club members.”

The offences occurred throughout 2015 and angry club members, seeking justice, attended earlier court hearings.

Mrs Elliot, a carer for her husband who is fighting cancer, told police she was left feeling “angry and bitter” and had been left “broke” by losing her Christmas money, which was her emergency fund.

Another victim was forced to cancel a trip to South Africa to see her family.

Dooner lost her own £12,000 life savings to the fraudsters, who convinced her she would receive 50% of a £9m Citibank account once she paid taxes and fees to release it.

Dooner approached some of her friends in tears, begging for money to pay legal fees to recoup money from the fraudsters, but this was simply the second-leg of the scam.

Her friends told police they felt sorry for her and gave her money from their share of the Christmas fund and their own personal bank accounts.

Prosecutor Miss Rebecca Foulkes told the court Dooner was eventually arrested. “She admitted taking all the money out of the Christmas fund.

“She said things got out of control and that she had lied to her daughter and her husband, who told her to leave.

“It is accepted all the money was sent to Nigeria.”

Her lawyer Mr. James Higbee said: “She has got nothing. She’s in a one-bedroom flat and is isolated.

“She has lost her friends and has received threatening phone calls, threats on facebook and abuse in the street.

“She genuinely believed everyone was going to get their money back with interest.”

No compensation order was made by the court and Dooner must also complete a twenty-day rehabilitation activity requirement.

Eight Years For Masseur Who Sexually Assaulted Female Clients

Groper: El-Alfie

A Hilton Hotel masseur, who told a hen night bride he would do something “special” to relax her seconds before molesting her has been jailed for eight years.

She was the second woman 34 year-old Mohamed El-Alfie had groped between the legs that day and the third in total, Isleworth Crown Court heard.

El-Alfie, of Brackenbury Road, Hammersmith was convicted of preying on the two women at the hotel’s Kallima spa in Syon Park, Brentford on January 2, 2015.

He was also found guilty of a similar allegation involving the third woman, aged 33, at The Happiness Centre, Uxbridge Road, Shepherd’s Bush on September 12, 2012.

Prosecutor Mr. Alisdair Smith told the jury the bride, aged 48, already felt “exposed” due to the small towel available for her hen night massage.

“Mr. El-Alfie uncovered her breasts and massaged them and asked if she wanted a ‘special massage’ something that would make her feel very relaxed.”

He then groped her between the legs. “She says she felt like a rabbit in the headlights and she put her hand on his and said: ‘That’s enough.’

“Earlier the same day a mother and daughter visited the spa and the mother, aged 45, was massaged by Mr. El-Alfie.

“He moved her legs slightly apart before slipping his hand between them. He pushed his fingers inside her four or five times.

“She said: ‘You have got to stop that right now’ and he said he just wanted to pleasure her.”

After speaking with her family the woman reported El-Alfie to the police, who questioned the masseur.

In Custody: El-Alfie

He described the mother as “odd” and “fishy” insisting: “There’s no way I’m going to touch someone. I’m married and massage women everyday.”

As a result police reopened an investigation from over two years earlier when a keen married cyclist claimed she was similarly molested by El-Alfie after booking a sports massage.

“He asked her to take her pants off and she was rather surprised that he just pulled them down and right off,” explained Mr. Smith.

“He massaged her inner thigh and in doing so touched her intimately five to six times and that touching began to make her feel uncomfortable.

“At one stage he was on top of the table sat astride her and asked if she had a boyfriend and she said she was married.”

The woman told the defendant - who likes to be known as Alfie- : “No. I don’t think so. If I wanted that sort of massage I wouldn’t be here. Do it again and I’ll report you.”

The woman was flipped onto her back and again El-Alfie touched her between the legs, the jury were told. 

“He massaged her breasts without really asking her and afterwards asked if she would go for a drink with him.”

“She refused to pay, saying she did not expect to be: ‘Felt up’ and reported Mr. El-Alfie to the police.

She told the jury: “He was very close, I could hear his heavy breathing. He was pushing the towel further up as he came up my leg.

“There was a definite motion and his hand touched me intimately. It was not accidental, it was not a slipping of oil.

“It felt like fingertips running up with some pressure and there was some movement inside.

“He shrugged and smirked as if to say: ‘I’ve tried it on. What are you making a fuss about?’

“He said: ‘I don’t do this all the time, but you’re very beautiful.’”

Without any further evidence El-Alfie was not initially charged in relation to that complainant.

He was convicted of one count of sexually assaulting the bride, one count of assault by penetration in relation to the mother and sexually assaulting the cyclist.

He will remain on the sex offenders register indefinitely and the court made him subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, prohibiting him working as a masseur.

After the verdicts El-Alfie became aggressive and shouted at the majority-female jury that they had only convicted him due to their sex, a protest he initiated at the start of the trial without success.

Detective Inspector Rory Wilkinson of the Metropolitan Police’s Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command said: “El Alfie targeted women he encountered through his job as a masseur, abusing his role to carry out these attacks.

“His sentence of eight years reflects the seriousness of the offences he committed.”

Bungling Fraudster's Bank Sting Exposed

A veteran fraudster, who adopted a stranger’s persona during a £5,000 bank sting, was exposed by staff and arrested by police when his story unravelled.

John Edward Henderson, 66, of Founders House, Carmel College, Carmel Terrace, Mongewell, Wallingford, Oxfordshire says he was recruited because his age matched the real victim.

The former Marks & Spencer personal assistant pleaded guilty to one count of fraud by false representation at Lloyds Bank, Heath Road, Twickenham on December 8, last year.

He also pleaded guilty to possessing articles for use in fraud, namely a fraudulent driving licence and bank card.

Prosecutor Miss Caroline Mungal told Wimbledon Magistrates Court it was 1.30pm when Henderson walked into the branch and tried to withdraw the sum.

He had a bank card in the name of Thomas Joseph Lott, but did not know the PIN and attempted to complete the scam by forging the victim’s signature.

Bank staff were unhappy about the signature and did not believe the driving licence he produced in Mr. Lott’s name, with a date of birth of 1950, was genuine.

There was also evidence the bank card had been tampered with and when Mr. Lott was telephoned at work he confirmed his business had been a target of fraudsters previously.

“Police were called and Henderson claimed the account belonged to a friend of his, but was reluctant to give any name and repeatedly said: “It’s my friend’s.”

The court heard Henderson voluntarily works with the homeless in Oxford and Reading and was hired by one young man who is a drug-user.

He claimed he was driven to the bank by people behind the fraud and instructed on what to do and say.

Henderson said he felt “under pressure” and was not going to gain financially himself.

A probation officer described him to the court as “naive” and somebody who had tried to help others over the years, but in this occasion it “backfired.”

Henderson was bailed to return to court for sentencing on July 21.

NOT GUILTY: Analyst Cleared Of Raping Student He Had Sex With In Back Of Cab

An analyst for financial advisor giants Deloitte has been cleared of raping a Cambridge University student on the back seat of a taxi.

Gerald Laryea, 25, says the 21 year-old consented to sex during the journey from a Chalk Farm bar to an address in Lewisham, south-east London.

The University of Leicester business management economics graduate, of Coltsfoot Place, Conniburrow, Milton Keynes was found not guilty of rape, attempted rape and sexual assault.

“Both of us, our eyes were looking at each other,” he told the Woolwich Crown Court jury. “I was asking her if she was okay and she said she was fine.

“I initially thought the taxi driver would say something, that’s why I asked her if she wanted to carry on.”

The pair were part of a larger group who earlier in the evening attended a rooftop party at the landmark Roundhouse music venue on July 31, 2015.

Laryea says the young woman thrust her hands down his trousers during the event and CCTV shows them still together when walking to a bar opposite.

The student denies groping Laryea and insist she did not say: “She’s jealous. We’re going to have babies,” when the defendant’s mother warned them to cool down. 

CCTV also shows them holding hands in the bar, which they left in a black cab.

“I remember him pulling me forward and taking my underwear off,” she told the jury. “I think he was kneeling on the floor.”

She said Laryea performed a sex act on her. “I was only half-aware of what was happening.

“I was waking up and thinking: ‘I don’t really want this to happen.’ I was embarrassed.”

She told the court the defendant then tried to rape her. “I could feel him trying to do that. I have a half-formed feeling that he turned me over.

“I could feel him trying to enter me. I could feel him trying to open my legs more.

‘He had sex with me that I did not consent to, that I was too drunk to consent to.

“I think he was touching my boobs.”

She admitted not saying: ’No’ or protesting and says she was simply trying to forget about what was going on.

She gave a statement to police the next day, adding: I’ve had a few panic attacks and flashbacks recently when I’ve been drinking.”

The jury took less than two hours to unanimously clear him of all three charges and afterwards Laryea complained about his lack of anonymity.

The trial was widely reported after exclusively covered by Square Mile News and he said: “It’s totally unfair. 

"Both parties’ anonymity should be kept, and if after a trial it is a guilty verdict then the information should go out.”

Royal Fusiliers Soldier Arrested For Hotel Domestic

A soldier with the Royal Fusiliers has been sentenced for domestic violence against a woman at a north London hotel.

Densley Chambers, 30, of X Company - based at Mooltan Barracks, Tidworth Garrison, Wiltshire – was sentenced to sixty hours community service.

He pleaded guilty to assaulting Charmaine Morris at The Corner House Hotel, Camden Road, Camden on April 8.

Highbury Corner Magistrates Court also ordered Chambers to pay £100 compensation to Ms Morris, plus £85 costs and an £85 victim surcharge.

Thief Nicked Mobiles During Kooks Alexandra Palace Show

A thief nicked mobile phones off eight people at a huge end-of-tour concent by The Kooks at Alexandra Palace.

Andrei Dragos Molan, 24, of Harvey Road, Ilford struck at the north London venue, where the Brighton four-piece were playing the final leg of their ten-year anniversary tour.

He pleaded guilty at Highbury Corner Magistrates Court to stealing mobile phones belonging to eight victims at the May 13 'Best Of' UK Tour concert.

Molan received a community order, which includes 60 hours community service work.

Vicar Swindled Parishioners And Nicked Collection Money In £15,000 Rent Boy Scandal

You Pay My Rent: Andrew Sloane

A gay vicar from swindled three trusting parishioners and stole the collection money at his Knightsbridge church to fund sex with rent boys during a £15,000 scandal.

Andrew Sloane, 63, convinced three female worshippers at St. Paul’s he needed temporary emergency loans, emphasising the need for secrecy throughout.

Last week, as exclusively revealed by Square Mile News, he was sentenced to twelve months imprisonment, suspended for two years and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £115 victim surcharge. 

An emergency parish meeting was called when £3,954.68 in collection money disappeared and CCTV confirmed Sloane took it from the church’s safe.

The disgraced vicar, of St. James Quay, Leeds, appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court where he admitted the offences.  

He pleaded guilty to stealing the church collections between January 3, 2015 and September 6, last year.

Sloane also pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud by false representation on various dates between November 23, 2014 and July 20, last year, namely false claims of a loan.

Day Job: Andrew Sloane

The court heard he is now funded by a charity and has spent much of the last year in Iraq, performing humanitarian work.

The victims, former model Tempe Brickhill, 56, now the President Director General of Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake’s London business, Paula Kaplan and Helena Quinn were all repaid at the time.

Prosecutor Miss Katie Bryan told the court: “The defendant was funding a lifestyle and using rent boys and living beyond his means.

“He is a vicar of at least thirty-five years and joined St. Paul’s from a parish in Washington, USA.

He asked Ms Brickhill for a £1,500 money transfer and then inflated it to £2,500. “He told her it was to tide him over and he called her several times in order to hurry up the transfer.”

He emailed Ms Kaplan, asking for help paying-off his United States tax bill. “She trusted him completely and transferred approximately eight thousand pounds.

“He asked for secrecy and not to be open within the parish,” added Miss Bryan. 

The third victim received a text from Sloane while attending her friend’s wedding, asking for £500 to be paid into his bank account.

“A few days later she joined a trip to Paris with other parishioners and the defendant and was shocked he ordered expensive meals and wine so soon after asking for the money.”

Examples of emails and texts Sloane sent are: “This is strictly between us as friends” - “I appreciate your discretion” - “I don’t want tittle tattle within the parish.”

Miss Bryan said: “There was a meeting because money was missing from the collections and the safe.

“CCTV shows the defendant taking the money from the church.”

A police enquiry began in July, last year after Sloane had repaid all the fraudulent loans.

Ms Brickhill told officers she was “angry and disappointed” and another victim described Sloane as a “thief and a liar involved in certain practices.”

Sloan’s lawyer Mr. Shaun Murphy told the court: “These offences reflected a personal crisis in his life and all the money was repaid before the police became involved.

“In October 2015 he made a full confession to the church authorities about what had happened.”

A probation officer told the court Sloane showed “contrition and insight” and the offences were due to “personal difficulties.”  

St. Paul’s is Grade II listed Anglican church situated in Wilton Place and completed in1843.

St. Paul’s describes itself as: “A lively twenty-first century church of Anglo-Catholic tradition.”

Women Sentenced For £100,000 Online Dating Scam

Prison Date: Grace Akintaro

A online dating scammer, who helped fleece seven lonely men out of over £100,000, has been jailed for two years and three months.

Student Grace Akintaro, 24, adopted the role of a fictitious date during phone chats with at least two of the victims and some of the money was laundered by her friend, 22 year-old Victoria Nwogu.

Judge Nicholas Heathcote Williams QC told the economics graduate it was a “particularly nasty” scam after hearing how the victims were conned into funding dates that were never going to happen.

“You knew the nature of the frauds you were participating in. To speak two two victims you had to know in good detail the story spun to each of them.”

The men were convinced their online romance with ‘Amanda Jenson’ was genuine and sent money for travel and expenses, but dates were cancelled with one excuse after another.

“Judging by what the victims say there were detrimental effects, both psychologically and financially,” added the judge. “They were expecting to get their money back, they thought they were loaning the money.”

Akintaro, of Pettacre Close, Greenwich pleaded guilty to seven counts of fraud between August 1, 2014 and December 2, 2015.

Those charges were dropped against Nwogu, of Maryon Grove, Greenwich, who pleaded guilty to one count of laundering £3,490 between  April 29 and May 6, 2015.

She received a community order and must complete 60 hours community service work.

Detectives from the Metropolitan Police’s Fraud and Linked Crime Online (FALCON) squad began investigating cons involving four of the men who had reported the scam to Action Fraud.

Cash: Victoria Nwogu

Further three victims were found during the investigation and all seven had been Match.com customers.

The fictitious Amanda Jenson asked for travel costs to meet up then for short term loans to cover rent and other expenses.

Forged documents were used to trick the victims into accepting ‘Amanda’ was due an inheritance and could repay the money.

One man lost £46,000 and another sent money he received from his late wife’s death in service insurance policy.

Others used up lumps of their pensions and one took out an equity release on his house to help ‘Amanda’.

The audacious fraudsters even tried to prise extra cash from one victim who agreed to meet ‘Amanda’ at an airport and was told to pay a customs charge to facilitate her release.

A photo of the fake ‘Amanda’ was found on Akintaro’s phone and most of the bank accounts were registered to her address. 

Police know Akintaro visited bank branches at least sixteen times, withdrawing £23,000 of the victims’ cash.

Ironically she told the court: “I was naive and used by this person I was in love with.”

The total loss is £104,962 and prosecutor Mr. Kevin Dent said: “The amounts going through Miss Akintaro’s bank accounts add up to just over one hundred thousand pounds and directly link with the seven victims.”

Mug Shots: Akintaro & Nwogu

Akintaro used her three bank accounts and a paypal account to transfer the money, but claims all she has to show for it is a £5,000 Renault Clio and a few hundred pounds.

“It was not a peripheral role because she was talking over the net,” said Judge Heathcote Williams. 

“We are looking at high culpability because of the high number of victims and long period of time. These were romance frauds.”