DON’T FALL FOR THIS LOVE RAT CONMAN
A SERIAL love rat jailed for luring women into relationships before stealing from them has conned another victim – just six months after he was released early from prison.
David Kean, 45, found victims on dating site Plenty of Fish before stealing from them and disappearing.
In May 2015, the Record exposed Kean, who had left a trail of heartbreak across the UK, and he was snared by police hours later.
Kean appeared at Hamilton Sheriff Court in September 2015 where he admitted five charges of theft and dishonesty against women between 2009 and 2012.
He was jailed for two years but released in November after serving a year of his sentence.
Five months later, Michelle Toal Dalton claims to have fallen victim to the love rat, who she says stole £1500 and fled.
Michelle said: “I was totally taken in by this man.”
Mum-of-three Michelle, 45, met Kean, who she knew as David Mitchum, on Plenty of Fish in April and the pair became an item.
Kean told the mum he was a lorry driver who originally came from Yorkshire, was of Irish descent, and was 44.
But after leaving him alone in her mum Teresa’s home for less than two hours, £1500 is missing and she hasn’t heard from him since.
Michelle, a health care assistant from Carlisle, said: “I’m a guarded person and not usually easily taken in but everything he said was very convincing. There were no signs at all. I know now it was all lies.
“He knew my mum was on her own and, when he offered to do some work for her, I thought he was being kind. We went to B&Q to get the Fraud goes on run with victim’s cash tools he needed and he suggested I take my mum to the shops while he worked.
“When we came back he was gone. His phone was on the table and, when he didn’t come back within the hour, I was worried he’d got lost. I even went out to look for him in my car.”
Hours later, Michelle got a call from Teresa, 63, saying £1000 in cash was missing. An envelope containing £150 from Teresa’s house was also gone as was another envelope containing £345 from Michelle’s home.
Michelle said: “My mum kept a jar hidden with coins and notes behind the curtain as she saving to fund a sensory room for a family member with autism.
“The jar with more than £1000 in cash was empty. He must have come across it when he had been round helping to fix her internet router days before. He must have seen it then planned to go back. I feel so awful for letting him into our lives.”
Michelle came across stories published by the Record and realised she had fallen for a conman.
She said: “I can’t believe he’s done this time and again. He is dangerous and his actions crush people. ”
Police are looking for Kean in relation to theft and dishonesty against women.
In March 2015, Laura Mitchell, 44, met Kean through dating site Meet Me. But the following month, hours after Laura, from Paisley, had handed him £50, he took off.
Helen Gardner, 38, of Rutherglen, near Glasgow, then revealed she had been duped by Kean, her then fiance, who had got her pregnant and left her penniless.
Another victim, mum-of-three Janet Mighton, 43, from Whitburn, West Lothian, told how she was left more than £650 out of pocket after meeting Kean online in March 2015.
Last night, police said they were probing a theft in Carlisle. ● If you know David Kean, contact Jennifer.hyland@dailyrecord.co.uk