A man who described himself as the “Kardashian of Cheshire” has been jailed for six years after pleading guilty to fraud.
Jack Watkin, 26, who once starred in a Channel 4 documentary called Rich Kids Of Instagram, conned people out of thousands of pounds in a designer handbag scam.
He persuaded people to invest huge sums – which he claimed were to buy and sell luxury handbags – but instead used the money on a luxury lifestyle, including five-star hotels.
In June this year, he pleaded guilty to six counts of fraud worth a total of more than £195,000, on the second day of his trial.
Chester Crown Court heard how he gained the trust of his victims by putting forward an “outward facade of a glamorous and luxurious lifestyle”.
One victim, Christine Colbert, who runs a shop selling upscale handbags in Prestbury, Cheshire, told Sky News how she used her ordeal to help police trap the scammer.
Tens of thousands defrauded
Watkin contacted her after seeing her store online and said he would use his connections to buy Hermes bags which have a high resale value.
When she first met Watkin, he told her he was interested in a £32,000 bag and she said she was “taken aback”, adding: “I wasn’t expecting a 22-year-old.
“Not many twentysomethings come in to potentially buy an item of that value.”
Read more: How victim of ‘British Kardashian’ lost tens of thousands
She gave him tens of thousands of pounds – but neither a handbag nor the investment ever came back.
Ms Colbert turned to the internet to see if others had also been taken in by him – and was stunned by how many people responded.
She contacted the police, and a warrant was put out for Watkin’s arrest.
Working with another victim, she asked Watkin to meet her at a Cheshire pub – where the police lay in wait.
PC Molly Easton of Cheshire Police said: “He came in in full designer gear, it was pretty obvious who he was.”
DC Gareth Yates, a serious fraud investigator at Cheshire Police, said he thought they had “only just scratched the surface”, adding: “I would personally say that his offending goes into the millions.”
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Watkin ‘deluded himself’
Handing sentence, Judge Simon Berkson told Watkin: “You used an outward persona of someone who was wealthy and well connected in order to dupe victims with your fraudulent behaviour.
“You described yourself as a millionaire and talked about your knowledge of luxury products. You suggested you could be a person who could be trusted with other people’s money.
“Your true motivation was to defraud people out of their money and spend it all on yourself.”
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Mr Yates added in a statement after sentencing that Watkin “deluded himself that he was a successful rich kid influencer”.
He added: “In reality, he was stealing money from wealthy individuals under the guise of ‘business opportunities’ to fund his expensive habit of fast cars, luxury goods, including Versace crockery, and designer footwear and clothing.
“It was never going to end well, and his downfall was inevitable. Eventually his lies caught up with him and he is now facing the consequences of his deceit, and his perversions.
“Whether his other victims come forward with their losses, only time will tell.”
