Con artist lied he was dying to steal from lover

‘A total Walter Mitty character’

A CONMAN stole £14,000 from his partner after telling her he was dying from cancer and needed life-saving treatment in the United States.

David Rae, 56, spun a web of lies to Janet Mitchell after meeting her on an internet dating site.

He charmed his way into her life by taking her for romantic meals, but within weeks pretended he had terminal cancer of the oesophagus.

Miss Mitchell, 56, a clerical worker, handed over her life savings to Rae after he told her his only chance of survival was a life-saving operation in the United States.

However, his lie was uncovered when a colleague of Miss Mitchell’s daughter showed her a photo of her sister’s boyfriend she had met online – and it turned out to be Rae.

He had told the other woman the same lie about dying from cancer and Miss Mitchell went to police after confronting him at his home in Paisley, Renfrewshire.

Rae has appeared at Hamilton Sheriff Court and admitted pretending he was suffering from cancer to obtain £14,000 by fraud. Miss Mitchell, from Hamilton, Lanarkshire, said: ‘He is a total Walter Mitty character who told me a pack of lies. He fabricated his whole life.

‘He was very charming when we met, he said all the right things and I quickly fell in love with him.

‘It was my first experience of internet dating after separating from my husband seven years ago and I thought this was my second chance at love.

‘When he told me he had cancer I helped care for him. He would pretend he couldn’t eat and would speak in a croaky voice.

‘I had cared for relatives with cancer before and I just couldn’t believe anybody would lie about something like that.’

Miss Mitchell, who met Rae in October last year, first handed over £3,000 to him after he claimed he needed to pay off his daughter’s house before he died.

She gave him another £11,000 in January when he said he needed it for surgery in the US which doctors in Glasgow had refused to perform.

She said: ‘He was so convincing and would talk in detail about his illness and which treatments were available.

‘He said he had found a treatment which was going to cost £160,000 in America. He told me there was a chance he might die on the operating table but he wanted to try it if it meant us being together.

‘He said some friends and relatives had helped out with money and he needed help to get enough to pay for it. At that stage I was totally in love and I would have given him my life.

‘When my daughter, who is a nurse, called me to say her work colleague’s sister was dating the same person I couldn’t believe it.’

Miss Mitchell added: ‘I confronted him but he still wouldn’t admit he had been lying all along. He said he would give me the money back and claimed loan sharks were after him.

‘It was only when the police came to see me after interviewing him that they told me he did not – and had never had – cancer.’

Rae, a security guard, repaid all the money to Miss Mitchell within two weeks of his arrest in February. He will return to court next month to be sentenced.

Miss Mitchell said: ‘The whole thing has been devastating for me and will make it very hard for me to trust anyone again.

‘But I want to warn other women about what this man is like because I wouldn’t want anybody to go through what I have.’