How we fell victim to the King of Con

Published 31 Oct 2009 11:00 0 Comments

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AS Britain's most notoriousconman was back behind bars this week The Observer reveals how we were taken in by the man dubbed the 'King of the

Swindlers'.

Fraudster Paul Bint first made contact with The Royal Borough Observer back in May claiming to be a top barrister wanting to help victims of the clampers in Windsor.

The 47-year-old, who has more than 500 criminal convictions, claimed to be taking legal action against a companyafter he was clamped in Castle Car Park in Windsor and said he would give his professional services free of charge to help other victims.

Ironically, the career conmanalleged the clampers were committing fraud by misrepresentation alleging they failed to display a valid Security Industry Authority (SIA) licence. Thames Valley Police confirmed to our reporters that they were investigating the allegations and the story was published on the front page of the paper on May 8.

It was only when Bint failed to show at two appointments arranged by the police and they were unable to contact him at the address given that suspicions began to grow.

A police spokeswoman said: "He claimed to be a serious criminal barrister and his allegations were treated at face value and noted on the system and he made an appointment to come in to Windsor Police Station to give a statement. Suspicions grew after he failed to attend two appointments and he wouldn't respond to attempts to contact him at his address.

"The intelligence team in their enquiries found he was being investigated by the City of London Police for fraud and the case was closed."

The master conman was arrested on May 19 in Reading and was convicted of two counts of fraud by false representation on Monday. He was remanded in custody to await sentencing. Bint pretended to be top barrister Jonathan Rees and Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, QC.

Reporter Gurpreet Samrai, said: "He sounded very convincing and seemed to know exactly what he was talking about. He continued the charade the week after claiming to have been contacted by numerous angry motorists."

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