Jailed, romance rat who f leeced 4 women out of £300,000 savings
A ROMANCE fraudster who spun a web of lies to swindle four women out of more than £ 300,000 has been jailed.
Cieran McNamara, 37, used a string of false identities and posed as a barrister, a company director and a property developer to target wealthy singletons online or by visiting exclusive hotels and clubs.
After carefully selecting his victims, the handsome, smartly dressed conman would start relationships with the women – convincing them that he was a successful businessman with a high- value property portfolio across the UK.
To prove this, he showed them pictures of himself at mansions in London and Cheshire, travelling first class across the world and staying at five-star hotels.
McNamara, from Coventry, would also bombard the women with gifts, weekends away and expensive meals out. But what the
‘Convinced them he was a millionaire’
victims didn’t know is that he was using money he had taken from other women to fund his lifestyle, police revealed.
After convincing his victims that they were in a loving relationship, he would create a ‘fake crisis’, claiming he was having issues with his banking and that he needed to borrow money, which he said he would repay as soon as possible.
If any of the women questioned his motives, he would turn on them and blame them for doubting him, officers said.
In total, in a 12-month period from September 2022, McNamara persuaded his four victims in Cheshire, Warwickshire and Hertfordshire to give him more than £302,000.
McNamara’s aliases included Myles McNamara, a 41-year- old director from Cheshire. His profile featured pictures of him smartly dressed and drinking cocktails and claimed he was a successful businessman who owned multiple high-value properties and stayed in five-star hotels.
Another was Cieran Griffin, a 37-year- old property developer from Warwickshire. His social media showed him posing with luxury yachts, travelling first class and visiting high-end clubs.
A third persona was Christian McNamara, a 37-year-old barrister from Hertfordshire.
But McNamara’s downfall came after his victim in Cheshire realised what he was doing and reported her concerns to police.
Detectives launched an investigation and he was arrested in
Colchester, Essex, last September. Officers raided a lock-up that McNamara rented and recovered new goods worth about £19,500, including a £1,900 Burberry coat, a £400 Burberry scarf, Dubarry boots, Gucci trainers and a Ping golf set.
At Chester Crown Court yesterday, he was jailed for seven years after pleading guilty to four counts of fraud by false representation.
Judge Simon Berkson said he had ruined the victims’ lives and posed a real risk for the future.
Afterwards, Detective Constable Victoria Hazlewood, of Cheshire Police, said: ‘McNamara is a serial fraudster and I truly believe that he cannot tell the difference between reality and fantasy.
‘We uncovered a web of lies with thousands of text messages which he sent to his victims to extort cash to fund his lavish lifestyle.
‘He convinced his victims that he was a millionaire with properties across the country, but in reality, he was unemployed and living out of suitcase. While he is now behind bars, I have no doubt that there are other victims across the country who have been treated in the same way and I would encourage them to come forward.’