The victim of an elaborate fraudster has told Sky News she handed over tens of thousands of pounds for designer Hermes bags that never appeared.
But Christine Colbert, who runs a shop in Prestbury, Cheshire, which sells upscale handbags, used her ordeal to help police trap the scammer – and he will be sentenced later today.
Jack Watkin, who once starred in a Channel 4 documentary called Rich Kids of Instagram, described himself as the “Kardashian of Cheshire”.
He lived a fantastical life of luxury cars, five-star hotels and fine jewellery, which he told Ms Colbert was funded by family – but was in fact, the spoils of fraud.
He contacted her after seeing her store online and said he would use his connections to buy Hermes bags which have a high resale value.
Ms Colbert told Sky News’ north of England correspondent Katerina Vittozzi that when she first met Watkin he told her he was interested in a £32,000 bag, and she was shocked: “I wasn’t expecting a 22-year-old.
“Not many twentysomethings come in to potentially buy an item of that value.
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“So I was; I was taken aback, but I very quickly learnt that this is a guy of wealth, is a guy of good standing. This is a guy of stature. This is someone who has been investing in these bags for a long time, as a personal collection.”
She gave him tens of thousands of pounds – but neither a handbag nor the investment ever came back.
For 18 months, she repeatedly asked Watkin where her money was, while he was continuing to post on social media, about nights spent in luxury hotels and living a life of excess.
So she decided to turn to the internet to see if others had also been taken in by him.
She said: “I put a post out on my Instagram story of him and said, ‘his name is Jack and I believe he’s a scammer and he steals bags and steals money. If there’s anyone else out there, get in touch’. And they did overnight.”
She said she was stunned by how many people responded.
“It was shocking, but also a little bit of a relief – it wasn’t just me – and that’s when I realised this is huge. This is really big.”
Ms Colbert contacted the police and a warrant was put out for Watkin’s arrest.
Working with another victim she’d met online, she asked him to meet her at a Cheshire pub – where the police lay in wait.
‘Stitched up’
PC Molly Easton of Cheshire Police said: “When we got in the pub we decided to hide behind one of the doors near the toilets so if he did see us coming in, he wouldn’t just run off.
“He came in in full designer gear, it was pretty obvious who he was. Just before he got to the bar one of my colleagues took him outside and that’s when we arrested him on suspicion of fraud.
“He was shocked and surprised about what had happened. To me he came across as if he was innocent in it, as if he was a victim and we got the wrong person.
“It wasn’t until Christine came with the car and camera that it hit him that he’s been stitched up essentially and he’s now gonna be in a lot of trouble.”
Officers arrested and charged him.
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In June this year, he pleaded guilty to six counts of fraud.
A jury at Chester Crown Court heard how he gained his victims’ trust by putting forward an “outward facade of a glamorous and luxurious lifestyle”.
DC Gareth Yates, a serious fraud investigator at Cheshire Police, said he thought they had “only just scratched the surface with Mr Watkin’s offending”.
He added: “I think there are lots more people out there and the net worth of his actions or the fraud are significant. I would personally say that his offending goes into the millions.”
Watkin will be sentenced today.
