Irish businessman conned Welsh sheep farmers out of £37k
A“THOROUGHLY dishonest” Irish businessman has been jailed for scamming two Welsh farmers and a pensioner out of more than £40,000 in a cross-border fraud.
Jimmy Connors had been selling farm equipment to the victims for years and told them a lorry containing a new quad bike had been impounded on its way from Ireland by customs at Pembroke Dock.
He swindled them out of thousands of pounds by telling them he needed cash to get it released and then got friends to con them out of even more money by saying he had been arrested and needed to be bailed.
Connors worked with a gang of Irish swindlers who also scammed farmers in Devon, Cornwall, and Lancashire out of more than £500,000.
He targeted victims in Pembrokeshire with whom his family firm had been doing business for 30 years and who trusted him as a friend.
Brothers Peter and Stephen Weeks, who run a sheep farm at Boncath, were left with almost no savings and struggling to buy fertiliser and other essential supplies after being conned out of £37,000.
Retired farmer Spencer Edwards was swindled out of £4,000 by the same scam but asked for advice from his bank when the gang asked for more, resulting in the police being alerted.
When he was arrested, Connors claimed he needed the money to pay for his sister’s wedding back in Ireland.
Connors, 44, of Pentregal, Llandysul, Carmarthenshire, admitted two counts of conspiracy to defraud and was jailed for 20 months by Judge Peter Johnson at Exeter Crown Court.
His cousin Luke Connors, 30, of County Wexford, along with John Maughan, 56, and Dennis McGinley, 57, have all admitted other conspiracies to defraud and will be sentenced in January next year.
The judge told Connors: “Peter and Stephen Weeks had done business with you and your parents for 30 years and trusted you as a friend. They have a modest sheep farm which was viable and they were keeping their heads above water.
“You were an essential part of the conspiracy because you were trusted by them and were able to get your foot in the door and spin the yarn about the lorry. You knew this was a thoroughly dishonest enterprise from the outset.
“Later the same day you went to visit an elderly retired man in his 70s and the same scam was effective because he saw you as a trusted friend.”
Rachel Drake, prosecuting, said Connors’ parents had run a genuine business importing equipment from Ireland and selling it to farms in the west of Wales.
He took over the business and was friends with the Weeks brothers, who believed him when he turned up in November last year and told them a story about his lorry being impounded at Pembroke because it had red diesel in its tank.
His first request was to borrow £5,000 to get it released and he promised to repay the money as soon as it was. The next day other members of the gang turned up and told the brothers Connors had been arrested. They swindled another £32,000 before the brothers became suspicious, began recording phone calls and visits, and contacted the police.
Connors used the same sob story about the lorry to extract £4,000 from Mr Edwards, but when the rest of the gang came back for more the next day, he asked advice from his bank and the police were alerted.
Connors was arrested at the ferry port in Heysham, Lancashire, and told police he was under financial pressure and needed money to pay for his sister’s wedding.
Helen Randall, for Connors, said he played a small part in a wider conspiracy.