Conman Dean Badder became the "puppet master" as he duped a vulnerable pensioner out of thousands of pounds - claiming he needed cash to buy cancer drugs and security payments because he was in trouble with gangs.
Badder made up the lies to get his hands on the man's cash and then splurged it on a static caravan, Nottingham Crown Court heard on Wednesday, June 29. A plumber's mate, Badder's meteoric fall from grace cost his unsuspecting victim nearly £50,000 - and he almost lost his home.
It began when the cruel defendant set up a fake Facebook identity, pretending to a be a young fresh-faced man in his twenties when Badder, of Swindale Close, Gamston, is now aged 52.
Badder, pretending to be a young man called "Eddie" and using a stolen picture to complete his profile, struck up a very close bond with the 76-year-old pensioner online.
"Messages were sent via Facebook that Eddie was repeatedly in trouble with the law, repeatedly in trouble with gangs and, in order to assert his safety, payments had to be made in the thousands, " said Andy Peet, prosecuting.
The victim, believing Eddie was in need and danger, he kindly withdrew hundreds of thousands of points in cash and gave them to the defendant who kept them for himself. This spanned 18 months to two years and amassed Badder £27,730.
Right up until the point the charges were put to Badder, the victim still believed Eddie was a real person - he was duped to that extent, added Mr Peet. The cash was spent on the caravan, an indication said Mr Peet that, "this was entirely motivated by greed".
Then Badder, acting as himself, claimed he had cancer, which was the second offence of fraud he pleaded guilty to. He said there were no drugs on the NHS to treat his type of cancer and the victim agreed to pay weekly amounts, which added up to £9,420, to supposedly buy treatment.
The final charge of blackmail was the meanest of all the offences, said Mr Peet, where Badder sent the victim a picture of a penis and asserted that - without payment of £600 - he would be in trouble because the penis was of someone who was underage. Police then became involved.
The victim, who lives alone and not an extravagant spender owns his own home through sheer heard work, the court heard. Financially the offence had a massive impact on him. He was worried he might lose his house but he has not.
Shannon English, mitigating for father-of-three Badder, said he is a hard-working family man. "Unfortunately, on this occasion, he made a huge mistake," she said. "He knows custody is inevitable".
Judge Rupert Mayo sentenced him to a total of four years and nine months, referring to the fake identity offence as the defendant behind the scenes as a "puppet master" acting as Eddie and asking for money for various emergencies; such as being trapped by gangs and being pursued by police by police during his life.
He had never met "Eddie" - he did not exist, added the judge. "There is no doubt Mr Badder that what you did to the victim was catastrophic and will have a lasting affect on him and was wicked - as the calculation you made would be he would fall for it and pay you the money".
The blackmail offence, he said, was disturbing and vile - a crime against someone he had already extracted some money, and to use the street language he was, "kicking a man when he is down".
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