A rogue auction house boss, who deliberately targeted elderly homeowners in the poshest parts of London - flogging their valuables without permission or simply keeping them- has been jailed.
Peter Taylor, 62, 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.
Taylor was yesterday jailed on for five and-a-half years by Judge Sarah Paneth, who told him: “You were motivated by greed and arrogance and the empathy for others you have you used in a negative way because people did trust you.”
Former commodities broker and property developer Taylor had a business with a £1m annual turnover between 2013-19 after taking advantage of what he saw as a “niche” in the antique market.
He was released from prison in November, 2013. “You turned to what you described as a passion from boyhood, antiques and valuables and said there was a niche in the market,” the judge told him.
“You saw an opportunity to obtain valuable items and were keen to clear commercial premises and houses.
“You seem to regard the property of others that is valuable to them both emotionally and financially as yours to sell after they had put their trust in you.
“You presented yourself as the owner of an auction house and exploited affluent areas of London. You have not shown any remorse.”
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.
The court heard four of the victims were “elderly women” and two “elderly men” with others exploited due to their financial circumstances or having lost a loved one.
Taylor based himself on a month-to-month tenancy at ‘The Gassworks’ in Fulham, where he agreed to sell property belonging to 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 prosecutor Katrina Charles at the start of Taylor’s trial.
“This was a few months after the licence for your prison sentence had expired,” said the judge. “You took furniture, glassware and lighting and sold them at auction.
“You never provided anything. You took those items and treated them as your own. You abused the goodwill and trust of decent people from all walks of life, adapting yourself to the consigners you tricked.
“The victim was left with 50p in her pocket when she confronted you, asking to pay.
“You were impossible for your victims to find and still used the Gasworks address on invoices months after leaving there.
“Once you had taken her goods you ignored Caroline Shamash and her partner and admitted yourself during the trial you could not be bothered to respond.”
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, according to the prosecution.
“You were keen to clear both premises,” Judge Paneth told him.
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“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’s downfall was largely due to the determination of 65 year-old businessman Stephen Morris, who allowed the defendant to take items from his Chelsea flat.
“He was an intelligent, honest, hardworking and extremely impressive witness,” said the judge. Mr Morris says his losses are between £52,000 and £98,000.
The defendant was known to him by his previous name - Peter Tillott - and Mr Morris said in a victim impact statement his “belief in the system” to protect him and his family from “predators like Tillott” was destroyed.
“The system seems to protect the criminal,” he added. “He had the audacity to complain to the police that I had threatened him. Tillott knows how to work the system.”
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.”
She was equally determined to hunt down Taylor.
“You never intended to provide a valuation at all,” Judge Paneth told him. “You intended to sell the items for your benefit.
“The impact on her has been devastating, beyond the mere financial impact. You were gaslighting her over her mother’s belongings”
In her victim statement Helen Ford said: “I am constantly thinking how I have let my mother down. I will never be able to live with that.
“I stood and watched my childhood being taken from that house by a man who says I have to prove they are mine. Have I not suffered enough?
“He took advantage of people when they were at their most vulnerable. He sold my items on eBay and that cuts like a knife. I feel broken.”
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,” said Judge Paneth.
Sadly, Ms Miller, who lost her china collection, never saw justice.
However, she did say in her victim statement she suffered “anxiety” and “sleeplessness” due to Taylor and felt “stupid and embarrassed.”
Veteran Portuguese 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.”
“You self-prescribed yourself as an antique expert to her without any experience or training,” the judge told Taylor.
“You took advantage because you knew she wanted to sell. She was an elderly lady whose first language wasn’t English. What happened to those items? Nobody knows.
“You took them and treated them as your own and you put in low sales figures because that allowed you to pay-out less. You should have paid out three times more than you did.
“Anything could be sold for any amount and you put in what figure you chose.”
In her impact statement the victim said: “He’s taken my life’s savings.”
Retired solicitor Arnold Rosen was another victim. “You took his items and again became evasive. He was very distressed by the loss of those items and was vulnerable at the time,” said the judge.
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Mr 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.
Victim Lady Patsy Alliott, 89, was impressed by Taylor’s professional-looking flyer, which he had largely copied from Christie’s auction house.
“She was in her ninetieth year when she gave evidence with immense grace, transparency, honesty and dignity,” said the judge.
“She said: ‘There’s no fool like an old fool,’ and you made her feel like an old fool, but those in court will only remember her dignity and integrity.”
Describing Lady Alliott’s victim statement as “charmingly short” Judge Paneth said she simply wrote in capital letters: ‘EXTREME DISTRESS AND ANXIETY. I WANT THE RETURN OF MY ITEMS.”
Lady Patsy is still missing her valuable candlesticks and prints. “She doesn’t know what happened to them,” said Ms 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.
Victim Karin Syrett, 76, annoyed Taylor. “You seemed angry in your evidence you did not get the items you wanted, including some jewellery,” said the judge.
The Austrian-born psychoanalyst, who lives in a £800,00 apartment in Royal Crescent, Notting Hill replied to Taylor’s flyer.
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.
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.
Victim Shari Shenavar says Taylor walked out of her home with 26 items, worth £20,000, of which only two have been returned, a pair of Royal Doulton jugs, which were seized by the police.
Outside court she said Taylor was visibly angry at her taking photographs to catalogue her property, claiming none of his other customers did that.
At the start of the lengthy trial 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.
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.
Wearing a prison-issue grey sweatshirt and bottoms, Taylor sought to minimise his offending through his lawyer Robert Morris.
“This is not a case of targeting elderly individuals. The business model was dropping flyers in areas of wealth,” Mr Morris told the court.
“This is also not a situation of abuse of position and in the light of the jury’s three not guilty verdicts this was not a wholly fraudulent business.
“This business stretched well beyond these fourteen complainants and there were positive reviews on eBay.
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“We do have other sales, but they pale into insignificance compared to what was coming in via eBay.”
Taylor claims his frauds did not have a “serious detrimental effect” on his many victims.
“It is not a case where elderly victims have been left destitute and homeless,” said Mr Morris. “This is not a case where individuals were particularly vulnerable.”
Taylor included French restauranteur Mr Payet, who lost an estimated £112,000 in this category, but Judge Paneth observed: “He says it has had a particularly devastating effect on his professional and personal life.”
Taylor also claims the Crown Prosecution Service are wrong to elevate the entire case against him to the “highest category of fraud.”
He downplayed the effect his criminality had on veteran antiques dealer Maria Gabriela Ponce de Leao, who suffered a £30,000-£50,000 loss on 83 items Taylor took.
“He age and mental capacity means she is not particularly vulnerable,” Mr Morris told the court.
“Some amount of money has been paid back, admittedly belatedly after police involvement and some goods have been returned.”
The prosecution say at least three victims never received a penny for their valuables, with Taylor paying a total of £7,665 - a fraction of what he owed - to the remaining eight complainants.
The court heard Taylor was a volunteer ‘listener’ at HMP Wandsworth and the Samaritans.
“Plainly you may feel Mr Taylor acted with greed throughout this time, but that does not reflect his character,” said Mr Morris.
“He has positive attributes and is not a hopeless case and can help others and express empathy.
‘Maybe his arrogance that he knew more than others what items were worth led him to this situation.
“He has taken advantage of a situation, but although a serious matter it is not the most serious case of fraud this court will have dealt with.
“He obviously knows he is going to receive a substantial prison sentence and that causes him some fear.
“He has been in twenty-three-and-a-half hour lockdown, experiencing a prison experience more onerous than previously and he caught covid in the last few weeks.
“Whatever he had built up with his business, which had those positive reviews, has turned to ashes. That business was legitimate in parts and is now in ruins.”
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