Conman on the runBy Wanstead and Woodford GuardianDETECTIVES are appealing for help to hunt down a conman from Wanstead who is on the run from a four-year prison sentence. Fugitive Maurice Joseph O'Leary created fake identities to obtain £200,000 worth of loans but two weeks into his six-week trial, he jumped bail and never re-appeared at court. The fraudster, who is believed to have fled to Ireland, was sentenced to four years in prison on Thursday at Snaresbrook Crown Court after a jury found him guilty of all charges in his absence. Now police officers from the National Crime Squad are appealing to the public to help them track down the man who is said to resemble Mr Magoo because of his bulging eyes. The 55-year-old divorced father-of-four is described as 5ft 10ins tall, slim and has white hair and distinctive scars on the palms of both hands A spokesman for the National Crime Squad said: "We are very keen for anyone with information about Mr O'Leary's whereabouts to contact us. "We believe we have a good idea where he may be hiding out but we need the public's support to build on this intelligence." O'Leary played a major part in establishing a fake identity to illegally acquire substantial loans between 1994 and 2001. The court heard how O'Leary, along with co-defendants Robert Mack, 54, and David Pyall, 49, opened accounts in a fictitious name at HSBC in Ilford and drew personal loans from the account worth £18,580. The three also set up a company, PCO Trading, with three fictitious people as its directors and received business loans totalling £13,276 from HSBC. And in January 2000 O'Leary obtained a mortgage of £168,000 to buy a farmhouse in Bardell, Suffolk, under the name of Pethick. He was convicted of four counts of obtaining services by deception in relation to the HSBC frauds and one count of obtaining a money transfer by deception in connection to the mortgage scam. Sentencing O'Leary, Judge Inigo Bing described the frauds as "highly sophisticated and inventive" and he said the fictitious name Pethick had been used by the fraudsters for seven years. Co-defendant David Pyall from Birch Road, Leytonstone was given 15 months in prison and Robert Mack of Buxton Road, Stratford will be sentenced next week. endss=10DETECTIVES are appealing for help to hunt down a conman from Wanstead who is on the run after being given a four-year prison sentence.o Fugitive Maurice Joseph O'Leary (pictured) created fake identities to obtain £200,000 worth of loans but two weeks into his six-week trial, he jumped bail and never re-appeared at court. The fraudster, who is believed to have fled to Ireland, was sentenced to four years in prison last Thursday at Snaresbrook Crown Court after a jury found him guilty of all charges in his absence. Now police from the National Crime Squad are appealing to the public to help them track down the man who is said to resemble the cartoon character Mr Magoo because of his bulging eyes. The 55-year-old divorced father-of-four is described as 5ft 10ins tall, slim and has white hair and distinctive scars on the palms of both hands A spokesman for the National Crime Squad said: "We are very keen for anyone with information about Mr O'Leary's whereabouts to contact us. "We believe we have a good idea where he may be hiding out but we need the public's support to build on this intelligence." O'Leary played a major part in establishing a fake identity to illegally acquire substantial loans between 1994 and 2001. The court heard how O'Leary, along with co-defendants Robert Mack, 54, and David Pyall, 49, opened accounts in a fictitious name at HSBC in Ilford and drew personal loans from the account worth £18,580. The three also set up a company, PCO Trading, with three fictitious people as its directors and received business loans totalling £13,276 from HSBC. And in January 2000 O'Leary obtained a mortgage of £168,000 to buy a farmhouse in Bardell, Suffolk, under the name of Pethick. He was convicted of four counts of obtaining services by deception in relation to the HSBC frauds and one count of obtaining a money transfer by deception in connection to the mortgage scam. Sentencing O'Leary, Judge Inigo Bing described the frauds as "highly sophisticated and inventive" and he said the fictitious name Pethick had been used by the fraudsters for seven years. David Pyall from Birch Road, Leytonstone, was given 15 months in prison and Mack, of Buxton Road, Stratford, will be sentenced next week. 12:42 Thursday 8th August 2002
More Stories By This Author
| 
Printer Friendly Format
Send This Page To A Friend
