Ex-public schoolboy junkie conned £80k from retired lawyer
ONE of the ‘homeless’ conmen who cheated a retired businesswoman out of £80,000 is a public school-educated musician, a court heard.
Joseph Carlisle, 27, ‘systematically milked’ Sylvia Moynihan, 81, out of her money at her £1.5 million home in Kensington, West London.
The retired lawyer, known as ‘the Tiger of the City’ during her highflying career, was targeted by homeless drifters as a ‘soft touch’ after giving one of them £5.
She believed she was helping individuals who had been left to fend for themselves on the streets. But yesterday it was revealed that one of the ringleaders was an ‘extremely privileged’ heroin addict from an affluent family.
Over six months Carlisle scammed his victim out of nearly £3,000 to buy drugs by knocking on her front door with various ‘sob stories’.
Prosecutor Douglas Adams said: ‘In December last year he knocked on her door and asked to borrow some money. He gave his name and said he was desperate and needed money for a taxi and he would pay her back.
‘She believed him and gave him £30 and he continued to request money from Mrs Moynihan over a period of six months. It got too much for Mrs Moynihan.’
Carlisle, who even rang on his victim’s door at 4.30am, was arrested in August as he returned to Gatwick Airport from Barcelona.
He also swindled two other elderly residents, saying he needed taxi fares when instead he blew it all on his £1,000-a-week drug habit. The guitarist earned a living performing in a band called The .357s and was educated at Bedales School near Petersfield, Hampshire, which costs up to £35,000 a year. Former pupils include singer Lily Allen, TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp and former Tory MP Gyles Brandreth.
Jailing Carlisle for 46 weeks at Isleworth Crown Court in West London, Judge Simon Davis said: ‘You deliberately targeted an 81year-old woman over a period of six months. You had an extremely priv- ileged start in this life, you acknowledge that. You systematically milked this elderly lady.
‘You quite rightly acknowledge this was despicable behaviour – beneath contempt.’
In mitigation, Carlisle’s lawyer Andrew Bullivant said: ‘The drug use has skewed everything and has ruined what was a very promising life.’
Appearing via video link, Carlisle, who is being held in Wormwood Scrubs prison, said he was clean after spending seven years addicted to drugs. He added: ‘My deceptions were all to pay for drugs that I am no longer using. I never want to do drugs again.’
Widowed Mrs Moynihan, who was married to banker Donald Moynihan, enjoyed a glittering career in the City during which she earned her fearsome nickname.
She worked as a PA at international law firms, an executive at a French interior ministry and as a director of a financial services firm.
Carlisle admitted four counts of fraud and one of harassment. He also admitted breaching a previous suspended sentence for carrying out a similar scam last year. His accomplices Andrew McRae, 45, and Tom Lonsdale, 44, were jailed for 17 weeks and seven weeks respectively.