Cannock conman who stole cheques jailed

A serial conman living in a fantasy world of fraud has been jailed for 40 months for a string of hopeless scams.

Brian Shaw was out of jail on licence when he stole cheques from his sister-in-law and used them to buy top of the range BMWs from Knights in Stafford.

The defendant went on to try to buy two upmarket homes in the Stafford area, promising to pay for them in cash.

He claimed he had an inheritance from his mother's estate. In one instance, the owner of a £480,000 house at Bednall was duped into handing over £4,500 to Shaw on the premise that it was a half share of the cost of a survey.

The defendant also used false documents in his wife Deborah's name purporting to show that she was employed as a nurse.

Paul Farrow, prosecuting, said Mrs Shaw had never been a nurse, the cheques used in the purchase of the cars were returned, the survey was never carried out and Shaw did not have the funds to buy either the house at Bednall, or another at Coppenhall valued at £430,000.

Shaw, aged 45, of Juniper Close, Cannock, who admitted charges of theft and fraud was told by Judge Mark Eades at Stafford Crown Court he had "lost sight of reality".

"You seem to spend most of your life acting dishonestly in a way that guarantees you'll be caught, but you cause other people huge anxiety and loss."

The judge heard that Shaw had a string of previous convictions for dishonesty including theft and fraud and was out of jail on licence when he stole the cheques from his sister-in-law, Rachel Lavender.

Michael Anning, defending, said: "It was always doomed because the cheques were never going to clear, sometimes his grip on reality is entirely lost."

By Harry Gottschalk