Con man’s £2m haul from 100 female victims
A WORLD record-holding yachtsman who swindled more than 100 women out of £2million continued to defraud victims after he was first jailed for the crime.
Peter Berry, 51, befriended victims through online dating sites before charming them out of their cash to fund his luxury lifestyle.
He even used his elderly mother’s identity to apply for loans and rack up debts on her credit cards.
In 2001, he beat the record for sailing from Plymouth to La Rochelle, in France, by 10 hours. A year later, he helped break his own record with Steve Fossett, the late US adventurer.
Berry, a serial con man, embarked on his latest crime spree after he was let out early from a five-year prison term he received for 19 fraud offences in 2010.
His latest trial heard how he posed as a successful businessman, kayaker and Harvard University graduate to ensnare his victims after his release from jail in 2012.
Joanne Clifford, one of Berry’s victims, was conned out of £30,000 after she met him on the website Plenty of Fish in November 2012. He told her he had a doctorate in engineering.
Berry, of Brockenhurst, Hants, denied the allegations and insisted the three women had all agreed to lend him cash.
He was convicted of seven counts of fraud by false representation after a four-day trial.
Jailing him for eight years at Inner London Crown Court, Mr Recorder Julian Malins QC, said: “You have told a pack of lies in the witness box.”