Conman fleeced OAP
COWBOY BUILDER HELPED HIMSELF TO NEARLY £1K FROM WOMAN’S ACCOUNT
A SERIAL fraudster with a record of targeting the elderly fleeced an 88-year-old woman out of almost £1,000 for a job that should have cost £110.
Cruel cowboy builder Anthony Jarrett had been out of prison for just four weeks for similar offences when he knocked on the vulnerable woman’s door and asked if she “needed any jobs doing”.
A court heard the 45-year-old conman painted the porch and wall of the victim’s house in Cleadon, South Tyneside.
Jarrett then charged the woman £740 for the job that experts estimated should have cost £110.
He then allowed the victim, who is believed by her family to suffer from dementia, to drive him to the Asda supermarket in Boldon, where he used her bank card to take cash out for himself.
Newcastle Crown Court heard he took £940 from her account over three days – and was coming back for more on the fourth day when police arrived at her house to arrest him.
Prosecutor Graham O’Sullivan said the fraud came to light when the victim’s nephew went to visit her and she asked him to take some cash out for her at the shop.
He noticed her balance was about £1,000 less than it should be and asked if she had spent any money on anything.
Mr O’Sullivan said: “She handed him a piece of paper with the details of some painting on her porch and wall. It said she had been charged £400 for the porch and £300 for the wall. She said she had driven the man to Asda in Boldon and he used her card to get the money out.”
The woman’s nephew rang the bank, who confirmed there had been three large cash withdrawals in October totalling £940.
The court heard the victim became confused and didn’t remember taking Jarrett to the cashpoint more than once, but CCTV footage confirmed he used it on three occasions.
Jarrett then turned up at the house for a fourth time, only to find police officers there to arrest him.
He later pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation.
A statement from the victim’s nephew said the incident had “affected her confidence and belief in people, that someone who appeared so friendly had stolen from her”.
The court heard Jarrett has committed numerous offences against victims aged between 61 and 92, “targeting the elderly and taking advantage of their vulnerability”.
He had been out of prison for just four weeks when he targeted his latest victim, using her money to pay off his own drug debts.
His barrister Vic Laffey told the
court that he had been evicted from the hostel where he had been staying after his release.
Mr Laffey said: “This led to him being homeless. This led to him using alcohol and drugs again, and this led to him needing money.”
The judge, Recorder Sam Green QC, sentenced Jarrett to two years behind bars. He described the defendant as “a serious and habitual fraudster” who fooled the victim into thinking he was a nice guy and then shamelessly subjected her to cruel financial exploitation.