Doreen’s lesson for con artists

TRY to mess with Southport’s pensioners and you could face a world of trouble.

That’s exactly what Paul Frossell learnt when he tried to carry out cons worth thousands of pounds in the town.

Frossell was last week jailed for 12 months after being caught in a sting by a pair of Southport’s senior citizens. He had tried to con 98-year-old Doreen Rimmer by telling her that her mobility scooter was being recalled and that she could buy another for £1,500.

Doreen wasn’t to be fooled though, and, with friend Ken Pike, 66, set up a trap that eventually saw Frossell put behind bars.

Ken pretended to be Doreen’s son-in-law and arranged for Frossell to visit to sell another scooter, only to also call the police to catch out his dodgy dealings.

While he waited for the police, Ken kept Prossell busy, even taking a test drive on the scooter, with his wife and Doreen watching on and laughing from a house across the road.

Frossell’s cons were vile, and they truly were the actions of a coward. He thought a Southport woman in her nineties would be an easy target, but he was proved to be very wrong and is now paying the price.

Mensa member Doreen sadly died last year, but not before she had appeared in court at Frossell’s original trial. She was described by her friend Ken as “old school” and “ready for battle” and would no doubt take great pleasure in seeing him brought to justice when his appeal failed last week.

Doreen may now be gone, but her fighting spirit is a lesson to us all and a sign to other criminals that Southport is no place to find an easy target.