A WALTER Mitty character from Macclesfield who defrauded his two lovers by pretending to be a valiant fireman has been jailed for seven years by a Brighton court.
Raymond Hollinshead told Jennifer Gillespie, from Radcliffe, and Amanda Towler, from Bury, that as a fire service doctor he had seen colleagues die in fires, rescued children from burning houses and saved the lives of road accident victims.
In reality, Hollinshead was unemployed. He stole Amanda Towler's identity and used it to buy £1,000 worth of goods over the internet. He defrauded Jennifer Gillespie to the tune of £13,000 by using her driving licence, birth certificate, passport and payslips to order credit cards and buy goods from catalogues and over the internet.
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Once the two women discovered they had been duped they reported Hollinshead to the police, but he fled to Brighton. After starting another scam, conning university students, he was arrested.
He pleaded guilty at Lewes Crown Court to 14 charges of making false representation and one charge of possession of a false identity document.
Det Insp Lynne Vernon, of Bury CID, said: "This individual led a Walter Mitty lifestyle. He purported to be in decent employment and by being a very convincing liar he managed to gain the trust of his victims.
"This case highlights how easily identity fraud can be committed if personal details are not kept secure and his sentence shows how seriously this crime is viewed by the courts."
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