£200m Ritz deal beyond wildest dreams, fraud-plot court told

Three conmen pestered chartered surveyor Christian Sweeting for

contracts to buy the landmark building in London's Piccadilly after finding out he had business contacts at the hotel, Southwark Crown Court in central London was told.

But Mr Sweeting said he refused to even pick up the phone to ask about any possible deal until Anthony Lee and Patrick Dolan provided a bond of 30m, which never materialised.

He said a "headline figure" of 600m might have tempted the billionaire brothers Sir Frederick and Sir David Barclay, owners of The Ritz, to consider selling up.

But he told the jury of nine women and three men: "Not in my wildest dreams would I have expected that anyone would have access to a contract to purchase that asset for 200m."

Lee, 49, and Dolan, 68, told potential buyer Terence Collins and Dutch financier Marcus Boerkhoorn they would use their friendship with the Barclays to buy The Ritz for 200m and immediately sell it on to them for 250m, the court was told. Solicitor Conn Farrell, 57, allegedly added "a veneer of legitimacy" to their scam.

The trio chose their marks well, finding victims who were interested in the high-stakes world of trophy properties and sucking them in with false promises until they handed over a 1m deposit, the court was told.

But it was all based on "one great big lie" and "the deal that sounded too good to be true was a complete fantasy".

Yesterday, Mr Sweeting, who worked for property investment firm London and Central European Investments Ltd (LCEIL), said Lee and Dolan repeatedly asked him for a letter saying they had the contract to sell The Ritz.

But he said he told them only the Barclay brothers could provide him with such a letter and refused to get in touch with his contacts – the hotel's director and a close friend of the owners – until the 30m bond was in place.

Mr Sweeting added that he also questioned Lee's credibility after

finding out he was involved in a separate property deal in St Neot's, Cambridgeshire, which he described as a "complete fiasco".

Earlier, Anuja Dhir QC, for the prosecution, said: "It is not, perhaps, a terribly sophisticated fraud, but it was effective enough.

"The prosecution case is that the defendants tricked the victims out of 1m."

Dolan, of Philip Lane, Tottenham, north London; Farrell, of Cambridge Road, Aldershot, Hampshire, and Lee, of Broad Lane, Beal, Goole, East Yorkshire, are on bail and all deny conspiracy to defraud between January 1 2006 and March 30 2007.

The trial, which is expected to last four weeks, continues today.