A man has been caught telling "grotesque lies" to "play on the heart strings" of shop staff so they could give him refunds for items he had stolen.
Serial fraudster Simon Porter played "on the good nature" of "good people" in order to get sympathy by spinning "elaborate stories" such as his son dying from cancer just to make a quick buck. Porter, who has 215 previous convictions - 134 of which are fraud-related - managed to get away with two of his outrageous lies, Hull Crown Court heard.
The 47-year-old, of Bachelor Street, Hull, admitted to five offences of fraud between May 12 and 31. Benjamin Donnell, prosecuting, told the court that Porter entered Tesco in Morton Lane, Beverley, on May 12 and headed to the customer service desk where he requested to speak to the store's manager, Hull Live reports.
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He claimed that he wanted to thank colleagues for their help the previous day over someone who died. Later on, he picked up an ice-making machine and returned to the desk, arguing that the manager agreed to refund the item. He received £129 for the refund.
Then, on May 14, Porter went to Asda at Anlaby retail park to pick up some pans valued at £65. He headed to the tills and requested a refund, claiming that he had bought them for his mother who had died.
However, he was challenged by a member of staff and quickly made an excuse that he just remember where he had left the receipt and exited the store. On the same day, Porter went to Morrisons' petrol station on Anlaby Road, Hull, and picked up three containers of motor oil.
He told staff that he had previously bought the items and asked for a refund, however, a member of staff refused, stating that he had seen him picking them up from a shelf. On May 25, Porter went to an Aldi in east Hull and asked to speak to the manager, once again claiming that he wanted to thank a member of staff for helping them the day before over someone's death.
Following this, he took a pressure washer, valued at £109, and claimed that a manager agreed to refund it without a receipt. "He made off with a £109 refund," said Mr Donnell.
Porter went to a WHSmith in Beverley on May 21 to take two board games, valued at £24.99 and £29.99, and claimed they were bought for his son, who had now died of cancer. He mentioned that he left the receipt in his car and left and would return with it, which he didn't do.
On June 9, he was arrested and said that he carried out the fraudulent activity to fuel a heroin and crack cocaine addiction. He was previously jailed in November 2019 for 16 months due to 18 fraud offences.
Nigel Clive, mitigating, said that Porter made admissions at a very early stage. "He found himself with no accommodation and very quickly reverted to using drugs as a coping mechanism," said Mr Clive. "He did what he knew best and went directly back into his old offending habits, making up elaborate stories."
"The defendant is not happy with his life and is not happy with his drug addiction," said Mr Clive. "He says he is getting too old for this. He doesn't have a home. He has drug associates. He knows this is a problem."
Judge Peter Kelson QC told Porter: "You have used your current technique in the past. It's your go-to method. You play on the good nature of good people. It's as bad as shoplifting. It's the same effect in terms of loss to the stores.
"What was particularly repulsive about your offending is the grotesque lies you would tell these good people to play on their heart strings to try to get them to bend the rules." Porter was jailed for eight months.
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