A blind piano tuner was compelled handy over £185,000 of inheritance from his late mom after being ruthlessly focused by fraudsters.
Mark Greatest, 55, was stated to have been ‘performed like a violin’ by ‘predatory’ gross sales director Mark Stanner.
Throughout a callous four-year marketing campaign, heartless Stanner duped Mr Greatest into believing he owed money for selling his enterprise providers on-line.
Utilizing a name centre firm in Manchester as a entrance, Stanner, 42, bombarded Mr Greatest with cellphone calls, emails and texts – in addition to pressuring his sufferer with ‘aggressive threats’ from folks claiming to be debt enforcers.
The shameless fraudster even warned Mr Greatest that bailiffs would arriving on the 55-year-old’s residence in Basingstoke, Hampshire, ‘inside the hour’ to grab possessions and alter the locks if he did not stump up the cash.
A determined Mr Greatest ended up borrowing a whopping £30,000 from family and friends after buying braille software program to learn a string of faux invoices which gave him as little as half-hour to pay.
Blind piano tuner Mark Greatest (pictured), 55, was stated to have been ‘performed like a violin’ by heartless gross sales director Mark Stanner, who duped him out of £185,000
‘Predatory’ Stanner duped Mr Greatest out of £185,000 throughout a four-year marketing campaign of deception
Stanner, from Droyslden, has since been jailed for 5 years and 4 months after he admitted conspiracy to defraud
The state of affairs grew to become so dire, the disabled 55-year-old even evicted his personal uncle from the home his mom had left him with the intention to promote it and lift money to pay again the bogus ‘money owed’.
Mr Greatest – who has been blind since beginning – had been left nearly penniless by the point police have been lastly referred to as in to research the case.
When he was tracked down, Stanner – who calls himself ‘The Window Wizard’ – claimed to have squandered the cash on playing and medicines.
Nonetheless, photos on Fb confirmed him having fun with a string abroad holidays in Turkey and the Center East along with his unwitting fiancee Gail Spink and her kids in the course of the course of the fraud between January 2017 and July 2021.
It emerged Stanner, from Droyslden, Better Manchester, was capable of goal Mr Greatest because the sufferer’s cellphone quantity and e mail appeared on his enterprise web site and social media pages.
He additionally recruited family and friends to make use of their financial institution accounts to discipline the sufferer’s money, together with his sister Martina Turner, 44, who allowed £31,000 of Mr Greatest’s money to undergo her account.
Mr Greatest, who lives along with his spouse Chris who can be blind, stated his life had been destroyed by Stanner’s deception, along with his ‘intimidating and aggressive bullying techniques’ having badly affected them ‘financially and emotionally’.
‘My trusting nature has now been taken full benefit of by those that see match to con weak folks purely out of greed for their very own self-centred monetary acquire,’ he stated.
Stanner – who calls himself ‘The Window Wizard’ – claimed to have squandered the cash on playing and medicines however had been pictured on a number of holidays along with his unwitting associate
Stanner’s sister Martina Turner (pictured) was concerned within the fraud, permitting her brother to pay £31,000 of Mr Greatest’s money into her checking account
‘My piano tuning enterprise has been working for over 30 years and being blind from beginning I’ve to belief these with whom I’ve contact and I base my work on belief, honesty and integrity.
‘Clearly these concerned on this rip-off don’t function beneath the identical excessive stage of morality – that’s if they’ve any morals in any respect.
‘They certainly should regard inflicting monetary and emotional stress on this means as some form of joke.’
Stanner has since been jailed for 5 years and 4 months after he admitted conspiracy to defraud.
Mr Greatest added he had been ‘simply traced’ by his tormentor after promoting his enterprise on-line.
He was first focused by a name from a cellular quantity, claiming he owed cash for alleged excellent promoting prices, Mr Greatest stated.
Quickly, he acquired texts demanding cash at brief discover warning of eradicating me from databases.
The con ramped as much as the purpose he could be bombarded by calls ‘on any day of the week, together with weekends and late evenings’.
Stanner has since been jailed for 5 years and 4 months after he admitted conspiracy to defraud.
Then, the fraud turn into extra sinister, with ‘aggressive threats from folks claiming to be debt assortment businesses’ or folks ‘engaged on behalf of the police’ threatening to grab his residence
‘This led each my spouse and I to concern what may occur to us and our residence,’ Mr Greatest stated.
‘We have been despatched into quite a few panic assaults as a result of we have been each made to really feel unsafe in our own residence.’
Describing the the fraud, Mr Greatest – who has been blind since beginning – continued: ‘One bogus demand was for £4,000 to be paid inside the hour while on a number of events bullying techniques have been used displaying rudeness, aggression and impatience if requests for cash weren’t paid in as little as half an hour.
‘If I do know I owe cash, its is all the time in my nature to pay it as shortly as potential. Each fee I made on this case was accomplished beneath strain however within the perception every request to be real and as a result of not being able as a result of my incapacity to completely examine the false calls for being made.
‘These demand for cash has taken an enormous toll on the wellbeing of my spouse and I. Feeling the strain to pay these alleged money owed has left me with very low confidence and I now discover it very tough to belief folks sooner or later.
‘My capability to belief has been irreparable taken from me purely out of self-centred greed by these fraudsters.’
Mr Greatest stated every time he would obtain a risk, his blood strain would ‘go up dramatically and introduced on bronchial asthma assaults’. Even consuming grew to become problematic, he added.
‘I’ve had sleepless nights and scary goals,’ he stated. ‘A lot of the cash was from my late mom’s property given to me as a bequest together with her residence.
‘I saved telling these heartless folks my funds have been at breaking level however they confirmed no compassion and continued to demand fee.
‘I really feel humiliated and completely nugatory and I really feel as if I’ve very critically let down my late mom.
Piano tuner Mr Greatest (pictured) stated every time he would obtain a risk, his blood strain would ‘go up dramatically and introduced on bronchial asthma assaults’
‘I used to be near my mom and never solely did I lose her however I additionally misplaced my inheritance which was my previous household residence – all to individuals who don’t have any function in life however goal and extort cash from weak folks for pure greed.’
Prosecutor Naomi Duckworth advised Minshull Road Crown Court docket, Manchester: ‘Mr Greatest was extra weak that almost all to being exploited. The cruelty he fell sufferer too as soon as he was trapped in it, pushed him into being squeezed and milked for countless sums of cash.
‘This was a heartless fraud carried out on an honest man inflicting him immense fear. To make use of a musical analogy Mr Greatest was performed like a violin.’
The financial institution has since re-imbursed £131,000 to Mr Greatest.
Stanner who had earlier convictions for stealing for an employer and deception claimed he had been coerced into the fraud and suffered from psychological well being points.
His counsel Rick Holland stated: ‘Although this fraud was executed on a chronic foundation and on a considerable scale, the foundation of Mr Stanner’s offending has been issues with playing. There may be one other dimension to his character.’
Stanner is pictured on vacation in the course of the time he defrauded his blind sufferer
However when sentencing, Choose Jason MacAdam advised Stanner: ‘This was a predatory, systematic and organised fraud upon a naive, gullible and weak man. You stole his cash with out mercy till nothing extra might be acquired.
‘You have been the principal participant and also you mercilessly and relentlessly drove this fraud of all that might be extracted from the sufferer. You have been concerned from first to the final in each facet whether or not it’s recruiting others, drafting paperwork, sending messages or making threatening cellphone calls to the sufferer.
‘You proceed to just accept no duty on your depraved offending and also you merely don’t care in regards to the hurt you might have brought about. You stay a totally dishonest, manipulative and devious offender.’
Stanner’s sister Martina Turner, 44, was given 18 months jail suspended for 18 month and was ordered to finish 200 hours unpaid work after she allowed £31,000 kilos of Mr Greatest’s cash to undergo her checking account.
Stanner’s former enterprise associate Marvin Scott, 41, from Blackley, Manchester was jailed for 31 months for fielding £48,000 of stolen money. All three will face a Proceeds of Crime listening to later.
In all 5 folks have been arrested and charged over the rip-off. Expenses in opposition to two suspects have been dropped at an earlier listening to.
