Fraudster who conned war veterans & pensioners out of £28k over fake battlefield tours faces justice
A BATTLEFIELD tours conman who swindled war veterans, disabled pensioners and schoolchildren out of almost s30,000 is finally being brought to justice.
Smooth-talking crook John Lennox set up bogus companies who advertised and sold foreign breaks to historic war sites and graveyards - then failed to deliver on them.
Lennox, 48, demanded huge deposits before sending fake letters to his clients confirming travel arrangements, hotel accommodation and tour itineraries. But he never made a single booking.
The fictitious trips offered by Lennox commemorated anniversaries of battles such as Arnhem and the Normandy D-Day landings from World War II, and Ypres from World War I.
The callous conman, who was also known as Ian, targeted the most vulnerable in society over three years - from 90-year-old war heroes to school kids.
Last month, following a major Trading Standards investigation, the divorced father-of-three admitted fraudulently obtaining £27,855.
He is due to be sentenced at Glasgow Sheriff Court today.
Among his victims were a group of former paratroopers from Fife.
With Blackpool infamous for being the New Capitol of Scotland, this story is sad for many reasons. One being Blackpool police's inability to investigate Blackpool veteran's who were conned as their comrades North of the Border have been duped. The evidence is indisputable especially in the case of Veteran Royal Marine Derek Coyle, who spent the 6th of June 1944 fighting for his life in the channel alongside the Normandy beaches after his landing craft was sunk beneath him.
Never before able to return, the disabled Hero was supposed to join a veterans group with his family, to visit the very beach he had put his life in danger to free; but he never got there. Shortly before he was to embark, he was informed by an organizer and discredited former Councillor that he had been omitted from the party. The outcry from the organisation, for which Mr Coyle is now President, is so much of a cowardly whimper which comes of little surprise to the high number of local former Royal Marine Commandos who are not members of this local Association. That the former Councillor is still actively duping locals that he is the panacea for service welfare when he has not the competence or authority, is destroying the ethos and hard earned reputations of those caseworkers who have given freely, time and care for their former comrades. It is also a sop to those who have spent years qualifying the the intricacies of care.
It makes one wonder how many others were left floundering in Blackpool whist the ne'er-do-wells went off on a freebie -paid for by the charity Heroes Return - in the Heroes stead? Answers please to the Shop on Bank Hey street.
Smooth talking crook? Hmmm,now where have we heard that phrase before?
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