Property conman who duped aristocracy
WHEN a suave Beverly Hills tycoon offered to purchase the dilapidated childhood home of Sir Anthony Eden and restore it to its former glory, the owners were so delighted they sold it to him at a bargain price.
William Davenport, 60, who claimed to earn almost half a million pounds a year as a computer executive, vowed to spend whatever it took to preserve Windlestone Hall near Bishop Auckland in Co Durham for future generations.
But rather than being a businessman with millions in the bank, Davenport, was in fact a penniless conman, who span a web of deceit in order to build up a property portfolio.
Using a string of aliases and a cache of forged documents, Davenport managed to con banks, mortgage companies and even members of the aristocracy into believing he was a man of considerable means.
But his lies unravelled and his true identity was exposed when a mortgage clerk spotted a tiny discrepancy in his paperwork and raised the alarm.
Last night Davenport, a former bricklayer, who was living on disability benefit when he executed his £2.9 million scam, was starting a six-year prison sentence after admitting three fraud offences at Teesside Crown Court.
Born Bill Green on the Isle of Wight, Davenport spent decades reinventing himself as a wealthy businessman buying properties around the world and then disappearing when he was unable to keep up with payments.
Prior to cutting a deal with Durham county council to purchase Windlestone Hall, Davenport had bought a stud farm in Newmarket, a stately home in Scotland and a property in Alabama in the US, where his wife was from.
In January 2010 he approached Lady Pidgeon, the owner of Great Brampton House in Herefordshire, offering to buy it for £1 million and then used the address to persuade mortgage companies of his wealth. In May 2011 he and his wife Ann Davenport approached Durham county council with an offer to buy Windlestone Hall.
After giving reassurances about his intention to restore the 19th-century manor house, Davenport agreed a fee with the council of just £241,000.
The council had been so keen to sell the property it spent more than £40,000 on repairs to the heating system.
Davenport claimed in a local paper interview last year, that the property had been in a poor state and crowed that he and his family has “worked like Trojans” to renovate it.
But prosecutor Joanne Kidd said rather than having the means to buy the property, his financial situation was in fact “dire”, with the family living “hand to mouth”.
After agreeing the sale with the council, Davenport made a fraudulent mortgage application to Barclays bank, claiming to have a £430,000-a-year salary. To convince the bank of the lie he used a restoration grant he had been awarded to pay £25,000 into his bank account each month.
By recycling the same £25,000 every month it looked to the bank as though he really was being paid the vast salary he claimed.
Davenport eventually succeeded in securing a £500,000 a loan, before making a series of further mortgage applications for other prestigious properties, including Ayton Castle in Eyemouth, Northumberland and Otterburn Hall, also in Northumberland.
However, his greed became his undoing when a clerk spotted a discrepancy in a forged P60 form he submitted.
Davenport was arrested on Nov 10 2014 at Windlestone Hall and the following month fled the UK for the United States. After he was arrested and bailed Davenport claimed he was the subject of a “witch hunt”.
In total the fraudulent mortgage applications came to £2.9 million, although the final two were discovered before they were paid out.