West Kingsdown man jailed as part of joint operation to defraud pensioner out of £1 million home and savings
Two men who groomed a vulnerable elderly man and took over his home – eventually defrauding him of more than £1 million – have been jailed.
John Paul O’Connor, 37, of Knatts Valley Road, West Kingsdown, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud part way through his trial.
He was sentenced to eight years in prison at Kingston Crown Court, alongside his co-defendant, Tony Casey, 34.
Both were behind a complex operation spanning more than 12 years in which they posed as the elderly victim's nephew or grandson to take over his home for a fraction of its value and eventually defrauded him of more than £1.1 million.
The victim is believed to have first met the men when he had building work completed.
Officers became suspicious while investigating Casey for an unrelated matter and examined his bank accounts in late 2015.
A financial investigator noticed he had recently opened a new account and an unexplained cheque for £3,600 had been paid in.
In May 2016, DC Siobhan Cowlin attended a property in Brookwood Road, Wandsworth, in the hope of speaking to the man whose cheque was cashed but was told by neighbours he had died six weeks earlier.
The officer then began to untangle a complex web of contact between the elderly man, O'Connor and Casey.
Neighbours said Casey or his associates would often take the victim to the bank.
In 2008, a relative of O’Connor bought the freehold for the property, priced at £500,000 at the time, for the extremely low value of £20,000.
A few months later, Casey became the landlord of the property.
Officers later discovered the victim's address had been up for sale for £949,000 since June 2015 with a sitting tenant.
After the victim died, Casey posed as his nephew or grandson in order to take control of his assets and instructed solicitors to sell the house and revoke a lease-for-life agreed with the victim as a sitting tenant.
In January 2017, a female relative contacted police after sending the victim a Christmas card which was returned to her and discovering his house was for sale.
She was shocked to discover the victim had died without her knowledge and someone she had never heard of had arranged his funeral and was now the owner of his house.
Casey was interviewed at Sutton Police Station in September 2017 but when asked to prove he was the grandson or nephew of the victim, he refused and left.
Following further inquiries, he was later charged with fraud by false representation in August 2018.
O’Connor, whose support was deemed "integral to the complex fraud", was charged with the same offence in January 2019.
DC Cowlin said: “This was a truly horrible, calculated and predatory fraud investigation in which two men groomed and took full advantage of a vulnerable elderly man.
“Had it not been for a family member contacting the police, then Casey and O’Connor might very well have got away with this crime.
“Although this investigation has taken years to complete, it was so worth it to see these two men behind bars.
"It would not have been possible to have secured this sentence without the continued dedication and hard work of the Met’s financial investigators who supported me throughout.”