£150,000 Tinder conman
He convinced businesswoman he was a medical tycoon. But now he’s found guilty after £4million ‘investment’ was shown to be worth just 37p
His neighbours always found Richard Dexter something of an enigma. Suave and well dressed, he boasted that he was a helicopter pilot and claimed to earn so much that he ‘only had to work one or two days a year’.
So it came as a surprise when he apparently had to move out of his house in Waterlooville, Hampshire, having failed to pay the rent.
‘I believe he had money issues,’ a former neighbour revealed. ‘He was good looking but we never thought for one moment that he was someone you could rely on.’
It is a lesson that Dubai-based business executive Amrita Sebastian would later learn to her cost in a case that saw Dexter convicted this week of conning her out of almost £150,000.
The pair met on the dating website Tinder in 2015 and while it is common to connect with prospective partners online these days, perhaps if Miss Sebastian had met Dexter locally she would have come to the same conclusion as his neighbours. She might also have realised he was less than desirable as a romantic prospect as he had an on-off partner with whom he had a daughter.
As it was, when Dexter, 38, told her he was on the verge of a ‘big windfall’, having acquired the patents to valuable biopharmaceutical technology, she believed him.
He claimed that big corporations including the US medical firm 3M were interested in signing a multimillion pound deal with him. On the back of his lies, Miss Sebastian handed over a series of payments believing they were investments.
But Dexter pocketed the cash for himself and came up with increasingly bizarre excuses for why he couldn’t pay her back.
Realising she had been conned, Miss Sebastian called police.
When officers raided Dexter’s home they found a document that claimed he had more than £4million invested with the financial services company Hargreaves Lansdown. But this was a ‘total fabrication’ and the account actually belonged to a friend of his whose balance was in reality 37p.
Arrested by police, father-of-two Dexter pleaded guilty to seven charges of fraud. He denied forging patent documents and perverting the course of justice in a bid to ‘wheedle’ his way out of justice.
But on Thursday a jury at Portsmouth Crown Court found him guilty of both counts. Released on bail ahead of sentencing, he was warned that he could expect to be sent to prison.
During the trial Robert Bryan, prosecuting, said that when Miss Sebastian met Dexter he claimed to be a ‘successful businessman’ selling biopharma software.
COnTACTeD in Dubai, she declined to say precisely how she had been duped. But friends say the deceit left her in turmoil and highlighted the risks of online dating platforms where ‘people can portray themselves as anything they want’.
When it came to talking himself up, Dexter was an expert. ‘When we asked what he did for a living, he said he flew helicopters,’ another neighbour said. ‘It was strange because three weeks later he was carted off in an ambulance with what looked like an asthma attack – I’d be surprised if a helicopter pilot had asthma attacks.’
The neighbour said he had bragged about importing a Porsche Boxster and a VW campervan, adding: ‘It was always that they were “going to be” imported – but we never saw them. He drove a Golf that was about six years old.’
One middle-aged married woman said: ‘He would big himself up to make it sound like he lived above his means but you could see that he didn’t. He was never trying to elicit anything from us, it was just bravado.’
Far away in Dubai, Miss Sebastian knew nothing of the reality of his lifestyle and his patter clearly worked when he persuaded her he needed capital to start production of a piece of scientific equipment.
She initially invested £40,000, then £68,000 two months later, having been assured he could cover any losses she might make.
Mr Bryan said: ‘At the centre of his fraud were patents and a patent catalogue he claimed to be buying. Having said he had acquired these patents, he said that well-known companies such as Pall Corp and 3M were interested in the patents and licence deals which would bring in significant sums. She invested.’
When Dexter told her he needed more to cover bills including lawyers’ fees, she advanced him extra funds. She then continued paying him to ‘protect’ the initial investments with the hope of a ‘large windfall’ ahead.
Mr Bryan said: ‘Towards the end of 2016, he promised he would repay her full investment in January 2017. On that basis, she lent him the final £5,500 as he was in dire financial straits heading towards Christmas. He promised he would pay £100,000 as interest.’
But Miss Sebastian received nothing, with Dexter claiming that the bank had closed his account and taken control of his home, the court heard.
In April 2018, police went to Dexter’s house where they found the doctored document from Hargreaves Lansdown.
‘Why doctor an investment report belonging to another to show you have £4million?’ Mr Bryan asked the jury. ‘Mr Dexter does not have, nor has he had, an account with Hargreaves Lansdown, let alone one containing over £4million.’
THen in December 2018, a number of computer memory sticks were handed in to police by his former partner Maisie evans, with whom he was in an on-off relationship for eight years.
Miss evans, who works in marketing and has a daughter with Dexter, told the court he had previously asked her to hide the memory sticks containing falsified ‘licensing agreements’ purporting to relate to a patent.
She left him and moved to Bristol when he was arrested in December 2018, taking the box in which she had put the memory sticks.
She was later contacted by Dexter’s friend and business partner about the sticks but instead of giving them to him, she handed them to Hampshire Constabulary.
Detectives contacted the Intellectual Property Office but it was unable to locate anything to suggest the patent referred to in the agreements was ‘genuine’.
Miss evans also told the court that Dexter used to ‘gaslight’ her, repeatedly starting arguments and ordering her to pack her bags, then suddenly changing his mind.
‘He often told me things that were not true,’ she said. ‘He lied to me about many, many things throughout our relationship.’
The court was told she had also previously reported Dexter to police for punching her in the mouth. Inquiries were launched but no further action was taken due to a lack of evidence. In his defence, Dexter said he was a successful Bitcoin investor and accused Miss evans of creating the documents to ‘frame’ him after a difficult custody battle. He also claimed to have three finalised agreements that would prove he bought a patent but that they could not be produced for the court. He said one was with a solicitor who had died last year and could not be retrieved, one was on a laptop that was ‘stolen’ in 2019, and a third was in a ‘storage facility’ in the US.
‘I’m not a fraudster,’ he told the jury, adding: ‘I didn’t enter the guilty pleas willingly. I found a solicitor who sadly passed away. I was left unrepresented and his firm had nobody to take my case on and they lost my files.’
He claimed the lawyers he then instructed did not have a full picture of the case and pressured him to plead guilty.
The jury heard that Dexter, who will be sentenced on December 23, was of good character, other than a 2014 drink-driving conviction.
What they did not hear was how he had tried to appeal against that conviction, claiming a police officer had ‘contaminated’ the breathalyser. Dexter also tried to argue that his use of an electronic cigarette and chewing gum affected a roadside test.
But the appeal was dismissed after the court heard the officer had to make a number of attempts to get a reading and believed Dexter was trying to cheat the test.
A breath of dishonesty – and a taste of worse things to come.
‘ He said he had a Porsche and worked only one or two days a year ’
DEAR BEL,
I HAVE been feeling judged and would love to know your views.
People often write about finding new love when families disapprove. Maybe it’s understandable that adult children object to the new partner, but do you think they have the right?
My Annie died of cancer four years ago, my soul mate for 42 years. She died at New Year and I remember feeling there could be nothing but unhappiness ahead. Our two children were devastated and so were all our friends.
Annie was greatly loved, especially by me. We met as teenagers and knew from the start that this was ‘it’. Annie was the love of my life — The One.
But within three months of Annie’s death I went out for dinner with Pat, who once worked with Annie. Pat had visited Annie a lot during the dark, sad times. In a way, I asked her out to dinner to say thank you, but also because I was lonely. Pat was older and always seemed a calm, wise presence.
Did I fall in love over that first dinner? Of course not. But our friendship was warm and I was so glad of her company. We started seeing each other and fell in love. But naturally people disapproved. It was a very difficult time — because I was still grieving for my wife yet felt protective of my ‘girlfriend’.
I couldn’t bear the suggestion that Pat was wrecking memories of Annie. We were both property owners so they couldn’t accuse her of gold-digging!
I knew it would be hard for my son and daughter, although surprisingly she was less judgmental.
My son and I exchanged some hard words, I’m afraid. I tried to explain that their mother and I had had 18 months to get ready to say farewell.
Annie had told me she wanted me to meet somebody else and be happy. I needed family and friends to understand that I had cried all my tears during those long months of fear and diagnosis and treatment — and was ready to move on.
Pat and I married very quietly this year and feel very contented to grow old together in our personal ‘paradise’.
People have come round (I think), but I am still feeling judged, so angry with my son. What do you think?
JEREMY
The first thing I’ll say is a huge, heartfelt ‘Congratulations’ on your new happiness. The world is full of bad, sad news but yours is joyful and I’m delighted for you and Pat. Love in older age can be such a beautiful thing and you tell me in your longer letter that Pat is thrilled to be able to be ‘Granny’ to your
daughter’s children, with her very own special name.
Love is all around... Oh, do let’s all join that rousing chorus and not care that the song is now a cliché!
As Christmas approaches we all need to focus on light and love, and there’s plenty of both in your story.
My motto — when in doubt, smile, be positive and look forwards, not back — has carried me through setbacks and sadness. And your daughter now seems to agree with me in feeling pleased her old dad has stepped forwards into companionable contentment.
Your son will take a bit longer, but have faith that he’ll get used to things. he misses his mother. You know how that feels.
So no more angry words, please. Just keep calm and trust your son will soon take his cue from your sister. You tell me that Pat puts fresh flowers by Annie’s photo in your sitting room. Make sure your son knows, so he understands Pat’s quality. Try for a
Christmas reunion. Love after bereavement can knock the one newly in love for six — dazed and confused by the potent mixture of romance, gratitude and guilt.
Sadly, in the eyes of the world (meaning those grieving for the dead person) a fast new relationship can seem to call into question the long-standing love. It shouldn’t. Personally I don’t really believe in the idea of ‘The One’ because we can never know how we might feel about people we’ve never met.
And love after loss can be such a glorious surprise, especially (perhaps) when the new love is very different to the one mourned. I get the feeling that’s the case with Pat. The point is life will go on.
Interestingly I wrote about this in Femail Magazine back in the summer, expressing my belief that people who have learned the habit of loving within a wonderful relationship always remain ‘in training’ to carry the love onwards — and often quite soon.
That’s what happened with you, Jeremy. You know it’s not the same love, nor does it call into question what went before.
No, falling in love with Pat was the new awakening of a practised heart. You both deserve your joy.