‘Compulsive liar’ who swindled thousands from his vulnerable victims is jailed... now police are trying to find out how many more he duped

POLICE believe there may be many more victims of a serial conman who was jailed yesterday.

Matthew Harvey (23) — described by the PSNI as “a compulsive liar” who preyed on the vulnerable — scammed seven people, including a gay man and a single mother with dyslexia.

Harvey, from Bridge Street in Newry, Co Down, was sentenced to 20 months. Half will be served behind bars and the rest on licence.

Afterwards, Constable Lori Wilkin- son of the Belfast Reducing Offending Unit said: “Matthew Harvey is a compulsive liar who preyed on vulnerable people to make easy money.

“His offending demonstrated a high degree of planning and preparation in his manipulation of people who wanted to genuinely help him.

“During periods when Harvey was released on bail he continued to offend and showed little remorse for the way he had treated his victims.

“We believe there are more victims out there and we hope today’s sentence will be the encouragement they need to come forward to speak to us.”

Belfast Crown Court heard that Harvey’s offending was linked to a gambling addiction.

It occurred between October 2016 and March this year, when he was living in the North Down area.

His criminality resulted in a loss of around £25,000 — £18,000 of which he scammed from one victim alone.

This victim, a gay man in his 50s with a well-paid job, was contacted by Harvey on a dating website. Across two months the man handed over £18,000 and believed he was developing a relationship with Harvey.

Between October and November last year Harvey told the victim a series of lies, including asking for money to pay for urgent medical care for his father and needing cash to cover the cost of his mother’s funeral.

Between November 2016 and January, he persuaded three people to take out telephone contracts in their own names. He then talked them into selling the phones at various shops, resulting in losses to both the individuals, and the stores where the phones were obtained.

In March Harvey targeted a single mother with dyslexia whose child has autism. He applied for two online loans in her name, and persuaded her to take out a contract for an iPhone and iPad in her name.

Saying the items were for his church, Harvey told her he would transfer responsibility for the finance into his name, which he failed to do.

When his offending came to light, he was arrested coming off a flight from Cuba. He subsequently admitted to multiple charges of fraud by false representation, as well as thefts.

Defence barrister Conan Rea said his client accepted that the offending was “low, mean and despicable”.

He added that while there was “no doubt” some of Harvey’s victims were vulnerable, there was “no clear evidence of deliberate targeting because Matthew Harvey was given a 20-month sentence for scams on seven people to finance his gambling addiction of such vulnerabilities”. Mr Rea told the court Harvey had a long history of mental illness, has ADHD and problems with alcohol and gambling.

This backdrop of gambling, Mr Rea added, led to Harvey’s offending.

Sending Harvey to jail, Judge Patricia Smyth said she accepted that the root of his offending was his gambling addiction, and that after several successes he developed a taste for an “extravagant lifestyle”.