Sponsored by
Fraudster faked credit card payments for posh meals
A CONMAN who duped hotels, luxury restaurants and even his girlfriend in an audacious credit card scam has been jailed for nine months.
Mark Chapman, 30, used fake details to buy lavish meals throughout the York area – on one occasion spending 725 on an evening of food and drink at a countryside pub.
The serial conman had previously been jailed for using his girlfriend's card illegally, but when he was released on parole he ordered 60 of flowers to apologise to her – using a card number he had made up.
York Crown Court heard that Chapman, who was penniless in reality and lived "from hand to mouth" on handouts from wealthy friends, was finally caught while out drinking champagne at a bar in the city.
Door staff at the Living Room in the centre of York became suspicious of Chapman's excuses for being unable to pay, and stopped him from leaving until police arrived.
The court heard how Chapman had 32 similar previous convictions and began his latest spree while he was on parole from a two-year sentence.
Among a string of offences was a week-long stay at the Headly House Hotel in York, where he gave an invented card number to pay the 1,400 bill.
However, the credit card details were accepted and an innocent cardholder received the bill.
Chapman ran up the 725 bill at the Durham Ox in Crayke, near Easingwold, and again his invented details happened to match a real account holder who received the bill.
On another occasion he used a false name to order a 200 voucher from the Blue Bicycle in Fossgate in York, which he then used to pay for a 74 meal at the restaurant.
He then got another voucher to cover the remaining amount the restaurant's staff thought he was owed.
Chapman also stayed with a friend at the 18th century coaching inn, the Fox and Hounds in Sinnington, near Pickering, where he ran up a bill of nearly 290, but left without paying.
When he was contacted by police, he claimed that there was a technical hitch and he had intended to pay, although he never did.
The fraudster's credit card crimewave finally came to an end in May last year while he was out with a group of friends in the Living Room bar in Bridge Street, York, when he failed to settle the 144 bill for champagne.
When he was arrested, Chapman told North Yorkshire Police officers that he had no fixed address or income and had been living with the help of wealthy friends.
Chapman pleaded guilty to eight charges of deception and four of false representation all committed between June 2006 and May last year.
Damien Morrison, defending, told the court that the mother of Chapman's girlfriend had agreed to refund all of the 6,383 which the conman had run up in the scam.
Sentencing Chapman, Recorder James Hill said: "I express the sincere hope that you will take steps to ensure your benefactor will be paid as soon as possible and will be repaid by honest means."
Email to a friend
Print this page- Three-inch blanket of snow heading our way today
- Alan Shearer in list of favourites for Leeds and England jobs: Latest odds
- Barnsley’s Keith Hill invokes Fawlty Towers over link with Leeds job
- McCormack feels United search can be narrowed down
- Redfearn throws down gauntlet as queue builds at Elland Road
- Rival chips in with £500,000 to restore the original Harry Ramsden’s
- Visit from Princess as Serbian culture celebrated
- SportsTalk: Leeds United’s manager search, Super League and Calcutta Cup
- Libraries aren’t like supermarkets, they are magical places where dreams begin
- Strategic review will lead to job losses at Yorkshire Bank
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: -1 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 1 C to 6 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North west
