Jack Kidd conman who preyed on rock ’n’ roll elite released

WHEN society fraudster Simon Welsh was sentenced to 30 months in jail in Switzerland last December, his many victims, including Genesis guitarist Mike Rutherford and polo player Jack Kidd, thought he’d finally got his comeuppance.

Now, they are horrified to discover that Welsh has been released after less than three months, on grounds of ill health.

To add insult to injury, he’s understood to have been put on a plane back to Manchester, where they fear he will con more victims.

‘There is a huge chance of his reoffending,’ Paul Andrews tells me. He and his wife Jane were fleeced of £46,000 by Welsh after he callously exploited their son’s death from cancer. ‘He told me that he’d never done an honest day’s work in his life.’

Rutherford met Welsh on the polo scene and rented him a house in Spain. Yet Welsh did a runner, leaving the musician down £50,000.

Founder of Mike And The Mechanics, Rutherford declines to comment on Welsh’s release.

Top model Jodie Kidd’s brother lost £35,000 and all his polo ponies. He claimed 30 of his ponies were impounded in Spain, allegedly when Welsh reneged on a deal to pay for their livery.

Mr Andrews, who runs a property business in the millionaires’ mountain hideaway of Gstaad, adds: ‘The Swiss authorities have told Welsh that if he ever sets foot back in Switzerland again, he’ll be straight back in prison.’

Another expat whom Welsh conned out of £150,000 tells me: ‘People in the UK need protecting from him.

‘Provided he’s still able to ply his trade, he’ll be doing this again, without question.

‘I was surprised that he only got 30 months. He’s very, very good at what he does. He’ll still be, what, in his mid fifties? Still perfectly capable of doing what he does best.

‘People in Manchester, if that’s where he’s gone, need to know that this guy is out and about because he will be doing the same again. A big, flashing warning.

‘I think there are a lot of people who want to have a chat with him back in England.’