IN-LAWS LEFT BANKRUPT BY £56K ‘SEX ABUSE’ SCAM
Devastated victims treated ‘dangerous’ conman ‘like son’
A COUPLE have been bankrupted by their lying son-in-law who told them he was fighting for compensation after suffering sex abuse.
The pair took out loans and credit to the tune of £56,000 to pay for his ‘legal fees’ and ‘expenses’ to travel to court.
They were left heartbroken and said they “treated him like a son”.
His wife said he was a “dangerous, nasty liar”.
“Never could I have imagined all this to be lies,” she added.
A KIND-hearted couple have been left bankrupt after being duped into giving their callous son-in-law nearly £56,000 after he claimed he had suffered sex abuse.
Derek and Martha Wales took out numerous loans and credit, bought cars in their name and paid for James White’s house to be decorated. They ‘treated him like a son’, Mr Wales said.
The 36-year-old convinced them he was due compensation as a victim of sexual abuse he would use the cash to repay them.
His in-laws were caught up in his web of lies including that he was bankrupt as a result that and he needed money for legal fees and expenses to travel to court – or face being arrested.
The dad-of-two later bragged to Margaret that he used 10 different phones to pose as court officials, including solicitor Jim Friel, who died in July 2014.
After asking advice about the level of debt they racked up and learning Mr Friel was dead, Mr Wales reported his son-in-law to police.
After a trial at Glasgow Sheriff Court, White, from Carntyne,was convicted of the £55, 868 fraud spanning from January 2011 to August 2015.
The Wales family including White’s estranged wife Mary, 34, wept as the guilty verdict was read out in court.
Speaking outside court, Mr Wales, 53, said: “He had been in our family for 18 years, we treated him like a son.
“We played golf and football together and everything was fine.
“In 2011 after the death of his dad, that’s when everything started and we gave him money to help them out.
“We thought it would help our daughter too.”
White went on to say his abusers had been convicted and there was an ongoing court case in Birmingham that would lead to him receiving compensation.
White claimed he was bankrupt and took money from his in-laws for court fees, travel expenses and a trip to London to “sign court papers”.
Jurors heard this was all fabricated, there was no court case and White was a never bankrupt.
An emotional Mary described White as a “dangerous, nasty liar.”
She said: “He was my husband, I thought he was my best friend, I loved him.
“Never ever could I have imagined all this to be lies.”
Sheriff Paul Crozier deferred sentence on White until next month.