A "despicable" fraudster led his 80-year-old victim to cash machines 150 times in order to steal more than £50,000 from him.
Serial scammer Andrew Evans posed as a campervan salesman and claimed that he was taking the regular payments to go towards a vehicle which he never provided. The pensioner was left unable to afford to heat his home as a result.
Liverpool Crown Court heard today, Friday, that the 55-year-old had worked at ES Hartley Motorhomes in Ellesmere Port but was dismissed in October 2019 after he was suspected of stealing customers' deposits and other monies. During the course of his employment, he had sold a £28,000 Volkswagen campervan to Brian Langton.
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Alaric Walmsley, prosecuting, explained how in June 2020 Evans had attended the house where the OAP lived alone "without notice" and began discussing the purchase of a Renault campervan. Mr Langton told him that he could not afford a new vehicle, but the defendant said that he could arrange for the sale of his VW van.
He also convinced him to buy a new camper for £38,000, telling him that he would receive £13,000 in cashback. The complainant began to make what he believed were payments towards this vehicle, which would see Evans collect him in a Fiat 500 and drive him to the branch of Santander in Liscard.
Mr Langton withdrew amounts of up to £250 from the cash machine while the conman waited in the car. When this site closed in July 2021, he began taking his victim to other locations - making more then 150 such visits in total.
The court heard that Mr Langton was "living on a modest amount", but was paying Evans around £1,000 per month. He would also ask for additional sums of money to cover road tax, insurance and delivery costs and began to make excuses as to why the campervan had not been provided.
This included claims that the garage had put the wrong fuel in the vehicle and blaming Covid-19. Evans even stated that a delivery driver had been fined for travelling during the pandemic and asked Mr Langton to pay this penalty.
On December 16 2021, he introduced his supposed customer to a salesman from Neston-based Sols Campers - whom he said had agreed to purchase the VW camper for £13,000. The deal meant he would receive £5,000 immediately, followed by a further £8,000 when the sale was completed.
After receiving the five grand, Mr Langton withdrew half the sum and gave it to Evans. On January 4 this year, the thief called him and told him the second payment would now only be £6,000.
He then told Sol Campers that Mr Langton's son had been in an accident, and that his client needed the money sooner. Evans was then given this money, and more, when the total was paid.
On March 7 2022 he took Mr Langton to a bank, where he applied for £1,000 loan - although he cancelled this application the following day. The same week, he was taken to Cash Converters to pawn a telescope and binoculars for £400.
Evans was then handed this cash, plus an extra £20. On March 14, police were called to Santander in Heswall after staff raised concerns over a transaction which Mr Langton was attempting to make - fearing that he may be a victim of fraud.
The con artist, of no fixed address, was also present and was "doing all the talking". It was at this point that his years of offending were exposed.
In total, Mr Langton lost £55,050 - comprising of £37,650 in cash withdrawals, £400 from the sale of his telescope and binoculars and a loss of £17,000 on his Volkswagen campervan. Santander have since reimbursed him for the former.
In a statement read out to the court on his behalf, he said: “I am 80 years old and considered myself as independent. I have lost all my savings and I have also lost my campervan that has clearly been sold to Sols Campers for a third of its value.
"Evans had then taken the £11,000 that I received from Sols Campers over the following two months. Only when the police arrived at Santander did I fully comprehend that I have been a victim of a crime.
"I was relieved when they became involved as I simply did not know when Evans was going to stop taking money from me or how I could ask Evans to stop. It was during March 2022 that I became worried that I could lose my house.
"It came to a point that I could not afford to heat my house and I was living in a single room. To state that my son had been involved in an accident to gain the money sooner from Sols Campers has annoyed and upset me as he has then involved my family, who he did not know.
"For Sols Campers to sell my camper van on for £30,000 has embarrassed me, as I feel that they have deliberately betrayed my trust and goodwill. I now understand that I have been targeted due to my age, vulnerability and my good nature.
"I have suffered psychologically, as I would wake up early hours in the morning thinking how can I get out of this situation. I have felt like I had no choice after I agreed to let Evans get a new camper for me."
Investigations then revealed three further victims whom Evans preyed upon via his employment with ES Hartley Motorhomes. David Sharples, a 64-year-old retiree, attended the dealership on October 8 2019 and was told that he could "obtain a significant discount" if he could pay a £1,000 deposit on the spot, which he did.
The next day, the staff member phoned him saying that he needed to make an additional £4,000 payment immediately. Evans attended his home and the sum was handed over in cash.
Mr Sharples learned the following month that this money had not been received by the business. On October 20, 68-year-old Robert Nevitt met the company's representative at a motorhome show at the Birmingham NEC.
Evans arranged to sell him a spare wheel for £175. The total was paid to him personally, but the goods were never supplied.
On November 8 2019, 72-year-old retired social worker Kazimierz Kaminski - who had purchased a campervan through the business - was texted by Evans, requesting £500 for road tax. He also pocketed this money.
Mr Sharples, Mr Nevitt and Mr Kaminski were all subsequently refunded by ES Hartley Motorhomes. Evans has eight convictions for 59 offences dating back to 1995 - 36 being for fraud and similar offences and 20 being theft-related.
Most recently, he was jailed for 54 months in 2015 after a swindle in which he targeted elderly customers of the company he then worked for. Evans - who was ultimately released from prison in August 2017 - kept some deals secret from his employer, offering victims building services but never carrying out the work.
In 2014, he was locked up for six months for theft by employee having taken cash payments and not passed them onto the business. Back in 2009, he was handed 56 months having been sacked from his work with a window company but continuing to purport as a representative of the business and taking cash from clients.
The previous year, he received a suspended sentence after stealing funds from the double glazing business in which he was a partner. Paul Lewis, defending, said: "He has been candid and honest about his behaviour and doesn't offer any trite excuse for it."
Evans admitted four counts of fraud during an earlier hearing and was given a further five years behind bars. Sentencing, Judge David Aubrey QC said: "You inveigled your way into the house of an 80-year-old gentleman who lived alone.
"Not only did you inveigle your way into his house, you inveigled your way into his life and his bank balance and his life savings. You did so with cunning, guile and deceit.
"You took it all, all his life savings. And so it was that you fleeced and bled him dry.
"When he stated that he would wake up in the early hours of the morning thinking how could he get out of the situation that you had presented to him by your campervan tales and your dishonest scenarios, this court has no doubt whatsoever that you targeted him because of his age, because of his vulnerability and because of his good nature. That offence in particular was a mean, despicable and cruel offence.
"In my judgement, you are a serial fraudster. Just as blood runs through your veins, I regret to say, so does dishonesty and the targeting of the elderly."
Evans could now be ordered to repay his ill-gotten gains under the Proceeds of Crime Act, and will be brought back before the same court next year. Merseyside Police's Detective Constable Kevin Reppion said: "This was a particularly nasty and callous crime.
"Evans gained the trust of his victim by pretending to be something he wasn’t and lied to him for nearly two years by making him believe he was selling him a non-existent camper van. He even went as far as attempting to apply for a loan and selling his possessions to pocket the cash.
"This was the ultimate breach of trust, and I hope that the victim will be able to move on from this now Evans is behind bars and his actions made public. Furthermore, Santander have agreed to reimburse Evan’s victim £36,750 as they recognise his vulnerability.
"I would encourage anyone who feels they are being pressured into any financial transactions to ask a family member of simply say, can i get some advice first? If you or someone you know who is a vulnerable person has been a victim of fraud please contact us so that we can take immediate action."
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