‘Love’ conman duped women into handing over £300,000
A ROMANCE fraudster who fleeced women out of £300,000 while posing as a barrister, developer and entrepreneur has been jailed for seven years.
Cieran McNamara used fake identities and selected rich women at spa hotels, clubs and online before luring them into relationships.
He was unemployed but spent cash from earlier victims to prop up a lavish lifestyle of designer suits and cocktails in exclusive clubs and resorts.
Police said he would then fake a “crisis” in his work to trick the women into giving him an emergency loan.
If queried, he blamed them for doubting him.
Chester Crown Court heard McNamara, 37, conned four women in Warwickshire, Hertfordshire and Cheshire out of £302,054. Judge Simon Berkson jailed him for seven years after he admitted four charges of fraud by false representation.
The judge said McNamara’s record was a significant aggravating factor, with many similar offences. Social media profiles of fake aliases showed McNamara, from Coventry, smartly dressed, in five-star hotels, posing with luxury yachts and travelling first class across the world. He would flood the women with gifts, weekends away and expensive meals. But a woman in Cheshire realised what he was doing and told police. Officers found new goods including a £1,900 Burberry coat, £400 Burberry scarf, Gucci trainers and a golf set in his storage unit. Detective Constable Victoria Hazlewood said: “He cannot tell the difference between reality and fantasy. He convinced his victims that he was a millionaire with properties across the country but, in reality, he was unemployed and living out of a suitcase.”