Locked up, the rogue romeo who conned his bride to be
He took £4,500 for flights to fake wedding in the States
‘A liar, a cheat and a rogue’
A ‘DISHONEST rogue’ was yesterday jailed for a year after he swindled a woman and her relatives out of thousands of pounds for a bogus US wedding.
Matt Jaeger ‘wormed his way’ into the family’s affections before duping them into paying £4,560 for flights to attend a marriage that would not take place.
It took authorities six years with the assistance of Interpol to trace the 50-year-old, of Edinburgh, who it is feared may have left a string of victims similarly conned in Scotland, England and possibly the US.
Londonderry Magistrates Court yesterday heard the ‘fantastical’ narrative of Jaeger’s plot, before District Judge Barney McElholm lamented the fact legislation prevented him from jailing him for longer.
At an earlier hearing, Jaeger pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud by false representation on various dates between July 31 and November 1, 2010.
The court yesterday heard how Jaeger met Kathy Langston in her native Northern Ireland in February 2010.
They started a relationship and although he returned to Scotland, it developed through phone calls and e-mails.
Despite making repeated promises to go back to Londonderry, Jaeger always came up with excuses not to, claiming ‘his father had died and that he had been involved in a road traffic collision’.
But that July, he took the ferry with his belongings and dog, telling his victim he had arrived there to settle with her.
On July 17, Jaeger proposed to Miss Langston but almost as soon as she accepted he said his credit card, passport and wallet had been stolen.
Claiming he owned a ‘large ranch in Dallas, Texas’, Jaeger said they could have the wedding there, so a date of November 19 was fixed.
The court heard Miss Langston gave Jaeger money ‘on various occasions’.
The court was also told Jaeger claimed to have a business associate who could book business class flights to Texas for Miss Langston and her family.
Eight people handed over a total of £4,560 in cash. However, the bride-to-be’s brother became suspicious and asked questions as no flight details had been provided.
At the start of November, Jaeger left to go to Austria for a supposed job he had organised, which he claimed would ‘pay substantial money’.
Nine days before the supposed wedding date, however, Jaeger sent Miss Langston a text claiming that his business associate’s firm ‘had gone under’.
He did not return to Northern Ireland after that, claiming he was in hospital and that he had cancer. The victim later learned he had swindled £1,355 from two credit cards.
Jaeger was arrested last August. He claimed there was no fixed date for marriage and nuptials were ‘in the pipeline’.
He admitted using her credit card but said it was with her permission and admitted taking money for flights, saying it was for some time in the future rather than a specific date.
Labelling Jaeger a ‘liar, a cheat and a dishonest rogue’, District Judge McElholm said the maximum sentences of six months for each of the offences was ‘wholly inadequate’. He also made compensation orders in favour of Miss Langston and the two credit card companies.
Jaeger is to appeal his sentence but was refused bail in the meantime.