Fraud squaddie
Conman who posed as a Royal Marine to seduce women and fleece them of £40k
TO smitten single ex-teacher Mary Stride, he seemed every inch the ideal man.
A Royal Marine and Special Forces hero who amazed her with tales of his 23 years of battlefield exploits and heartstopping covert operations.
But little did Mary know that her soldier was in fact a solar energy salesman and gambling addict.
And the only secret missions Michael Brain had ever carried out were to dupe 28 women out of more than £40,000 over three years
The 47-year-old Walter Mitty stung Mary, 51, for £1,000 during a threemonth romance in 2015 – but his lies unravelled as other victims came forward to nail him in a police operation involving six forces.
Mary, now a carer, said: “Mick’s military background was exciting. He described it all in detail. He even showed me combat photos of himself, which I now know were of his brother.
“He told me he was trained to kill and had done eight tours with the Marines and Special Forces. His favourite story was how he shot dead a young boy in a suicide vest in Afghanistan. He claimed he was haunted by the memory.”
BURNS
She met Brain in June 2015 through the Plenty of Fish dating site which showed him in uniform. He was living at Plymouth Home for Veterans and told her he’d been “abandoned by his country”. On their first pub date he asked to borrow £50 as he was “waiting for wages”. Then he popped to a bookies next door to blow it.
Fantasist Brain played on Mary’s sympathy by showing her burns “from an IED blast”. In reality they were caused by a mobile home gas canister fire.
He once took her to an Armed Forces Day bash in Plymouth where he fooled officers with his stories as a colour sergeant. Mary says: “He talked of his time with 42 Commando. Genuine soldiers were taken in. Mick loved the attention.”
She tells how the boozer drank eight to 20 pints of lager a night and “wet the bed, blaming it on PTSD flashbacks”. He even told her his mum had died to gain her sympathy. All the while, Brain was coaxing cash out of her. She says: “I gave him handouts he said he’d repay when he got compensation from the Marines. I also noticed the odd £20 missing, but when I challenged him he made me feel it was my fault.”
Once she found him leaning out of the window at home. “He said he was doing secret service covert work,” says Mary. “I can see now he was talking to other women.” In August 2015, Brain was arrested and charged with forging her ex-husband’s signature to cash £2,698 in cheques. He got 17 months in December for that and thefts from other women. “Even then the lies went on,” Mary said. “He said he got locked up to carry out work for the Special Forces in prison.”
While he was inside Mary helped police to gather evidence from dozens of women he’d duped. He was arrested again when he left prison last August.
In September Plymouth Crown Court heard how Brain’s victims were all “articulate and hard working”. He snared them on Plenty of Fish and pocketed more than £40,000. CCTV also showed him standing close to women at ATMs, noting pin numbers.
His eldest victim was a 75-year-old with whom he had a “motherly relationship”, stealing £20,000 from her. Prosecutor Nick Lewin said: “He is a fraudulent lothario callously bleeding every penny he could get.”
Brain got four years for fraud and theft and 28 restraining orders to protect his victims. Mary says: “The mother he told me had died, twice, was in the public gallery. “I met other victims. One added me to the their Facebook group and I found he cheated with three while with me.”
Mary now has a new partner – but wants to warn others. “He’ll find a way to con women when he’s out,” she said. “I got off lightly.”
amy.sharpe@ trinitymirror.com