‘£180,000 lonely hearts conman’ who lived with his wife and lover
Father of 14 accused of swindling 5 women
A ‘FLAMBOYANT’ car salesman had a ‘three-way relationship’ with his wife and a stable girl as he fleeced them both, a court heard yesterday.
Matthew Samuels, 50, who shared a house with the two women, is claimed to have left them destitute before embarking on a lonely hearts scam, allegedly targeting women online.
Posing as a wealthy company director, the father of 14 is even accused of conning a female police officer out of £12,000, a jury was told.
While courting the detective, he claimed his father was a millionaire, his brother was in the music industry and his mother had been a ballerina. Former public school pupil Samuels, of Worcester, described himself as ‘ one of the richest men in the UK’ and drove ‘flash cars’, including a Porsche and a Bentley.
Gareth Walters, prosecuting, told jurors: ‘He has his own method … as you’ll hear time and time again. First, he targets women from internet dating sites. They’re often divorced, widowed or going through messy relationships. The females selected are wealthy, have come into money, or have a good credit rating.’
Mr Walters added: ‘He arranges to meet soon after first contact, arriving often in a prestigious vehicle he purports to own – often hire cars.’
Samuels is accused of conning five women out of a total of £180,000 and is charged with 11 counts of fraud. He denies all the charges.
His ex-wife Caroline Morris, 48, told the jury she had to declare herself bankrupt in 2011 and her family were left living ‘like church mice’ with ‘no food in the cupboards’. She said her finances spiralled out of control after Samuels, with whom she has seven children, got access to her credit cards.
‘He robbed Peter to pay Paul, borrowed from one to pay another and then I jumped,’ she said. ‘I wish I had jumped sooner … I supposed I loved him and wanted him to be with me … I put up with him.’
She later added: ‘If you’re with a partner you will do anything to help them out with their business … when they start messing about you just go down the plughole.’
The jury heard Miss Morris, who claims she was saddled with £150,000 of debt, at one stage lived with Samuels and his young lover, a stable girl. Abigail Nixon, defend- ing, described the living arrangement as a ‘menage a trois’ or a ‘three-way relationship’.
Miss Morris told how she had gone on a day trip with her husband and their children to see shire horses. She said ‘two young girls’ had shown the family around and weeks later Samuels revealed he was going to learn to ride.
She later found text messages on his phone from 18-year- old Anne Marshall and became suspicious, the court heard. Miss Morris added: ‘I made it my business to go and see Anne … and say you can have him.’
Samuels went on to have three children with Miss Marshall and at one point shared a house with both women. He moved out of the marital home with his lover after ‘jealousy’ set in between the women.
Miss Marshall, now 33, told Worcester Crown Court: ‘He was funny, friendly and well spoken when I met him and we began living together in 2002. [The same year] we had a daughter … Afterwards I learned that Caroline [his wife] had had more children, even though he said they weren’t together any more. He just said they weren’t his.’
The court heard Samuels created a business with Miss Morris called C&M. It went under but Samuels then founded Staffordshire Trade Sales with Miss Marshall – which also went into administration.
In his later dating schemes, Samuels posed as a successful businessman, inventing family crises to extract money from women he met online, the jury heard.
Nicola Hampshire, a West Mercia Police detective, yesterday told the court how she loaned a credit card to Samuels after he said all his bank cards had been stolen. He allegedly said he urgently needed to pay a bill and Miss Hampshire said he could borrow money. The pair had met on dating website matchaffinity.com.
Samuels is also accused of cheating mother-of-three Anne Ruddock out of £45,000 and widow Alfreda Roberts, 78, out of the £110,000.
Mr Walters told the jury Samuels was ‘adept’ at ‘juggling a number of relationships’, adding: ‘The Crown would say using those relationships to obtain money from his partners either with or without their knowledge.’ The trial continues.
‘Loaned him a credit card’