Lewis Middleton shamelessly used payments to fund his spiralling gambling, drink and drugs problems, a court was told
A cruel serial fraudster "ripped off" 565 trusting people in a long-running con that netted him more than £106,600 - by falsely renting out non-existent caravans, log cabins and lodges.
Middleton, 30, of Holderness Road, east Hull, admitted five offences - including fraud, possessing criminal property and failing to keep records for a company. The fraud spanned February 2017 to November 2022, HullLive reports. "The holiday park receptionist confirmed that no such caravan nor plot existed," said Miss Chapman. "The receptionist told her that they had received other complaints from others who had also been defrauded by the defendant."
The episode was "frustrating" for her but less so than if she had made the journey to Newquay. She tried to get a refund from her partner's credit card company but nothing was paid. "He tried to contact the defendant but found that he had been removed from the chat, which meant that he could not contact him. Having asked for some assistance, he was directed to some log cabins but found that the lodge that he believed he had booked was occupied."
On November 11, 2022, the woman and her family made the journey from her home to Loch Lomond Holiday Park but the receptionist told her that there was no such lodge. "The defendant used nearly 90 bank accounts to receive these payments. The accounts were held for short periods of time before being closed, sometimes in response to complaints of fraud being made to the relevant bank."
"He said that he had struggled with gambling since he was 17 years old," said Miss Chapman. When asked how much money he had received, he could not say and claimed that his memory was affected by drugs and alcohol. Miss Chapman said that being arrested and interviewed on the first occasion might be seen as a warning to Middleton about his conduct and that his continued offending amounted to a failure to respond to such a warning. Middleton had no previous convictions.
Middleton had suffered the "powerful" mix of drink, drugs and a gambling addiction and it was one that he could not control. "He learned that he couldn't gamble his way out of a gambling addiction," said Mr Clive.
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