Card-swap gang stole £23k from war hero, 93
A ROMANIAN conman stole £23,000 from a 93-year-old disabled war veteran in a sophisticated card-swapping theft.
Ion Anghel and two other gang members bought thousands of pounds worth of goods, including iPhones and a £13,800 car, after distracting and robbing Neville Corbett at a cashpoint.
Mr Corbett, who served with the Desert Rats in North Africa, lost an arm while fighting at El Alamein.
He was conned by the gang when they dropped a £20 note on the floor as he collected money out of an ATM located inside a bank.
During the seconds that he looked down, his bank debit card was switched in the machine for one the gang had stolen earlier. It is believed they had watched him put in his PIN number, and his debit card was then used 27 times over the next two days all over the country.
Yesterday Anghel, 48, admitted theft of a bank card and fraud and was jailed for three years at Lincoln Crown Court. Judge Simon Hirst, passing sentence, described Mr Corbett as ‘a man of considerable fortitude’. He told Anghel: ‘This was a sophisticated offence. You deliberately targeted a vulnerable victim.’
When Anghel finishes his sentence for the offences involving Mr Corbett, he will be extradited to France where he is wanted for another distraction theft.
Jonathon Dee, prosecuting, told the court Anghel and his accomplices spent half an hour walking up and down the high street in Grantham checking out customers before deliberately targeting Mr Corbett in December last year.
Mr Dee said: ‘This was clearly a well-planned and well-practised deception. They were looking into bank lobbies, clearly looking for a suitable victim. They chose 93-yearold Neville Corbett. He is a man who has some disabilities. He has a prosthetic limb, having lost an arm fighting in El Alamein.’
Describing the bank card switch, Mr Dee said: ‘It all happened very quickly. The whole thing took just 45 seconds. Within a quarter of an hour Mr Corbett’s card was being used to withdraw £50 from an ATM in Grantham.’ By 9pm the same day the card was being used at cash machines in North London and to buy a vehicle from a car dealer.
The withdrawals were all within the limits set by the bank, and the card was only rejected when the gang tried to buy £4,000 worth of goods from an electronics store. Mr Dee added: ‘£23,000 was taken over two and a half days. There was very extensive use of the debit card.’
Anghel’s two accomplices in the theft have been identified by police but officers have so far been unable to trace them.
The money was later all refunded to Mr Corbett by his bank.
The court was also told that Anghel, from Wolverhampton, has committed similar offences in Italy and Denmark as well as in the UK.
‘They targeted a vulnerable victim’