Man jailed after conning Heywood pensioner out of £700,000

George Beveridge

A man who conned a man in his sixties from Heywood out of more than £700,000 has been jailed.

George Beveridge, 36, of HMP Humber was found guilty of fraud by false representation at an earlier hearing.

He was sentenced to five years in prison at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court.

Beveridge turned up at the 68-year-old victim’s house in Heywood, whilst he was gardening. Beveridge engaged him in conversation and offered to undertake work at his house, which the victim agreed to. The following day Beveridge returned and completed a survey, agreed a price with the victim and signed a contract for £15,000.

The work was completed but Beveridge continued to return to the victim's house; telling him that he needed more work doing and agreeing prices. On one such occasion he told the victim he needed his drains repairing at a cost of £1800, but the work was never completed.

On Monday 30 November 2009 George visited the victim and proposed that he join a property investment scheme; telling him that a significant return could be expected. The victim agreed and on 9 December the victim handed over £9,500 cash to Beveridge.

Later in December 2010 Beveridge visited the victim and agreed a price to repair his garage and all the work was completed, with the exceptions of the drains, and paid for in cash by the victim. Beveridge also told the victim he needed a further £34,000 for the investment, which the victim paid.

Beveridge continued to approach the victim and request more money for the investment and each time the victim, believing it to be genuine, handed over cash or transferred the money from his bank account.

On 16 June 2015 Beveridge was jailed for for an unrelated fraud, unbeknownst to the victim. During his time in prison he continued to try to extort money from the victim via phone but was caught and police were alerted. Beveridge was charged in prison for fraud by false representation.

In total, Beveridge conned the victim out of £749,839 - £713,339 in cash and bank transfers and £36,500 for work carried out.

Detective Constable Jason Ruff of GMP’s Rochdale division said: “George Beveridge is a selfish individual who preyed on the hopes of a man who put his full trust in him and bled him dry of all his life’s savings.

“Towards the end of his sickening scam, the victim told Beveridge he simply didn’t have any more money, but this didn’t stop Beveridge, as he continued to demand money. Beveridge showed no regard whatsoever for the damage he would cause.

“I hope that this sentence will send a message to those people who believe they can target people and defraud them out of such a large amount of money and think they can get away with it.”