On the f iddle ...ceilidh star who conned newlyweds
A TOP ceilidh musician has been found guilty of scamming fans who booked his band by taking hundreds of pounds of their cash then failing to show.
Gary Forrest, 30, would make up bogus excuses at the last minute, leaving event organisers and couples who paid up to £830 scrambling to organise alternative entertainment.
The fraudster, of Jedburgh, Roxburghshire, used a variety of morbid excuses including the death of his parent and even his child to dodge his obligation to play before failing to return his fee.
Seven customers were taken for hundreds of pounds each by the scam which he ran between 2014 and 2015.
Yesterday, Forrest pleaded guilty at Selkirk Sheriff Court to fraudulently obtaining more than £3,000 to provide a band when he had no intention of doing so.
Procurator fiscal Graham Fraser said: ‘He was basically saying he and his band would turn up for people’s weddings.
‘But then he would come up with bogus excuses for not turning up saying his parents had died and his child had died. The impact on people was major.
‘They would be sitting at the wedding waiting for the band to turn up and no one would turn up. It caused a great deal of upset.’
Speaking in defence of his client lawyer Ed Hulme said Forrest had been taking on more business than he could handle and was drinking to excess at the time.
Forrest admitted seven offences involving sums between £200 and £830 – totalling £3,710 – between November 2014 and October 2015. The court heard that he had handed £2,580 to the police to compensate the customers.
They were also told how the defendant’s business has been badly affected by the publicity surrounding the case. In additoo tion to the fraud Forrest also pleaded guilty to assaulting his former partner in Melrose in October.
Sheriff Peter Paterson imposed a community payback order involving 200 hours of unpaid work and
‘It caused a great deal of upset’
ordered him to pay £650 compensation.
Victims of the scam have left scathing reviews online and outlined their ordeals as they tried to recover their cash.
Phil Young, from Edinburgh, said: ‘In early October 2015 I booked this guy and his band Reely Rockin’ to play at a function in Langholm. Rather trustingly I transferred £200 to him in advance. He failed to show up and has not replied to texts or calls.’
Another reviewer, Lucy Blackwell, from London, wrote: ‘We booked Gary and his band to play at our wedding in January 2016.
‘He told us they were doing a special offer if you paid upfront. Soon after we had paid, we became suspicious due to lack of contact.
‘We contacted Gary and he promised to refund us. We were then ignored for weeks before Gary contacted us claiming that his girlfriend had had a baby, and the child had died. This was untrue.
‘Eventually, through the help of another musician who knew Gary, we got our refund but it was very stressful.’