Homeless fraudster ran up £22,000 debt in Good Samaritan’s name
James McGrath
A FRAUDSTER who stole a friend’s identity and ran up £22,000 credit card bills in his name has been jailed for two-and-half years.
James McGrath, aged 25, was taken in by Good Samaritan Vinnie Helwig when he became homeless but repaid the kindness by stealing his identity.
Northampton Crown Court heard how he intercepted his landlord’s post, then took out four credit cards with and embarked on a spending spree of cocaine, hotels and designer goods. He even bought a Mazda and insured it in his victim’s name.
It was only when McGrath failed to intercept a letter from credit card company MBNA did the web of deception unravel.
Caroline Bray, prosecuting at Northampton Crown Court, said Mr Helwig knew McGrath through a kick boxing club and offered him a place to live in November 2010. He said: “By January 2011, Mr Helwig realised something was wrong when he found a letter from MBNA addressed to him about card protection, but he was not with the company. He phoned them and was told a credit card had been obtained in his name and maxed to its £7,500 limit.”
Mr Helwig, a 31-year-old plumber, confronted McGrath who said he had taken out the MBNA card because he was in debt to his cocaine dealers. It was then discovered McGrath had taken out other cards with £6,000 owed to Barclaycard and £700 to American Express.
When his room was searched, Mr Helwig found four pairs of new trainers and an Xbox 360 still in their boxes, a Blackberry android mobile phone, a watch and stereo, all newly purchased.
McGrath, of Latimer Court, Eastbourne, pleaded guilty to 14 fraud charges which involved spending £21,869 on hotels in Worthing and Northampton, at two cars firms in Northampton and Kettering and more than £8,200 spent gambling at Ladbrokes.
Sentencing, Judge Richard Bray said: “These offences are aggravated by the fact they were committed upon a man who had the kindness to take you into his lodgings and you repaid that kindness with calculated cruelty . . . determined, quite sophisticated and well-planned fraud.
“I bear in mind you owed substantial sums, you say, to drug dealers but that’s really not mitigation but an aggravating feature.
“You spent a great deal on luxury goods and gambling. You even purchased a car, paid for by milking the victim and had the cheek to drive him around in it. It is a further aggravating feature that you were subject to a suspended sentence for £1,800 of stolen cheques.
“I bear in mind that the innocent victim of these frauds now finds himself unable to obtain credit.”
McGrath was jailed for 30 months for the 14 fraud charges with two months consecutive for failing to attend a hearing in December, having lied about his pregnant girlfriend being taken into hospital as a reason for not turning up.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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