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Man sentenced after vulnerable Hadleigh man conned out of thousands
| Author: Police | Published: 22nd February 2019 16:48 |
Police
Man sentenced after vulnerable Hadleigh man conned out of thousands
A 22 year old man from Hadleigh has been given a two year sentence with one year to be served in custody and one year on licence after admitting to stealing thousands of pounds from a vulnerable man.
Stuart Snowling of Ansell Close in Hadleigh appeared at Ipswich Crown Court on Friday 22 February where he was given the sentence after stealing over £26,000 from a 50 year old man, also from Hadleigh.
At an earlier hearing Snowling pleaded guilty to stealing around £16,000 from the victim but made further admissions at court today bringing the total stolen to over £26,000.
The fraud took place over a three year period from January 2015 to January 2018. The victim was befriended by Snowling's family in 2006 and Snowling himself began a friendship by helping the victim with his X-Box game and, since 2016, the pair would regularly communicate via the messenger service on the console.
Snowling was unemployed and short of money so he began asking the victim for money stating he needed to pay the X-Box company money to keep the victim online - if not paid he said the victim would not be able to play.
Hundreds of withdraws of money were made by the victim over a three year period that were then given to Snowling on the pretence that the X-Box would go off-line if the money wasn't paid. Snowling also sold the victim many second hand games and DVDs at hugely inflated prices, knowing the victim didn't understand the value of money.
Over a three year period around thousands of pounds was taken from the victim's account, leaving the victim without food or toiletries. Using the victim's debit card, Snowling also bought many other items including shoes, aftershave, and various clothes including hooded tops, a tracksuit and a jumper.
The series of thefts came to light when a support worker for the victim took a phone call from a man who was asking the victim for money. Further enquiries raised further concerns, the police began an investigation and Snowling was interviewed on 12 January 2018 and subsequently reported for fraud.
Investigating officer PC Diane Porter said: "The victim was a vulnerable man with various health problems and Snowling exploited the situation to his full advantage by stealing his money from him. Although the victim led an independent lifestyle, the X-box was the victim's only form of entertainment and so had become extremely reliant on the console to keep him occupied.
"Snowling's action left the victim with no money to buy food which prompted him to lose a considerable amount of weight - he didn't even have a tea-bag in his house, his cupboards were so bare. It is very gratifying to see Snowling convicted and the sentence handed down to him will give him plenty of opportunity to reflect on how his cruel and selfish actions bought a huge misery and distress to the victim.
"In my 26 years as a police officer with Suffolk Constabulary, this has been one of the saddest cases of fraud I have ever dealt with. I am so pleased that together with social services we have been able to support our victim and his life is so much better than prior to this fraud. His quality of life has improved and now has on-going support from social services."
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