'Their life savings have gone' - gang of tricksters con British farmers out of £1.2m

Maughan and McGinley then took over the handling of the victims, who were told ever more elaborate lies about incredibly valuable illegal cargoes of cigarettes and secret bank accounts in Dubai and Turkey.

They made hundreds of calls explaining why they needed more cash and the two men flew frequently from their homes in Northern Ireland to pick it up amounts of up to £200,000 a time at laybys near the M5 or other main road.

They told the farmer from Whimple, who was the main loser, that they would double his money. They told other victims they would repay 50 pence in the pound.

McGinley and Maughan were arrested at Bristol Airport in January as they headed back to Ireland. Police were alerted by the Devon victim, whose sister became alarm at the massive cash withdrawals and realised he was being scammed.

Two brothers who ran a farm in Boncath, Wales, had already alerted the police after they and a neighbour fell for the ’impounded lorry’ scam at around the same time.

John Maughan, aged 56, of Killyview, Enniskillen, Fermanagh; and Dennis McGinley, aged 57, of Sligo Rd, Enniskillen, both admitted two counts of conspiracy to defraud. Luke Connors, aged 39, of County Wexford, admitted four.

His brother Jimmy, aged 44, of Llandyssul, W Wales, admitted two counts of conspiracy and was jailed for 20 months at an earlier hearing at Exeter Crown Court.

Maughan was jailed for five years three months, McGinley for five years seven months, and Luke Connors for three years by Judge Peter Johnson, who also set a timetable for the seizure of their assets under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

He told them:"These were a shabby and mean set of offences involving trusting, kind people which netted large sums of money.

"This has had a devastating effect on the victims. Their life savings have gone and the fruits of a lifetime of work in the money you have taken from them.

"There is a sense of embarrassment at having been duped. The harm done to the victims is enormous."

Miss Rachel Drake, prosecuting, said the scam started in 2013 when a the Whimple farmer bought farm machinery and was offered more, he was then told the story about a valuable load being held up at customs and started parting with large amounts of money.

Maughan and McGinley used the false names of Gerry and Francis as they sucked him further and further into the deception, which soon included frozen bank accounts in Europe, Dubai and Turkey, vast consignments of bootleg tobacco.

They even claimed a scheme to smuggle £3 million cash out of Turkey on fruit and vegetable trucks had to be abandoned because of the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istambul in October 2018.

The farmer had scores of phone calls from both men and met them in a layby near junction 26 to hand over huge amounts of cash. His family eventually realised he was being conned and called in the police.

The farmers in Cornwall and Lancashire were still in thrall to the gang up to the time of their arrest, and Maughan was recorded making a phone call from prison which is thought to have been to an associate who was still trying to get more money from them.

They only realised they had been swindled when police checked numbers which Maughan and McGinley had called regularly and traced them.

They told almost identical stories, as did the victims in West Wales, who had realised that something was wrong and gone to the police independently.

Miss Drake said:"Maughan and McGinley played a leading role in a fraud which was sophisticated in nature and required significant planning. It was conducted over a significant period and to a degree targeted vulnerable victims."

Mr Harry Hughes, for Maughan, and Mr James Tilbury, for McGinley, said they have no serious previous convictions and have admitted their guilt and apologised to the victims.

They said there had been no threats or implied threats of violence and they had not been particularly sophisticated, using their own names and travelling to and from mainland Britain with their own passports.

Mr Hughes said Maughan is married with eight children who became involved because he was put under intolerable pressure to repay debts incurred when he was suffering from depression. He had not enjoyed a luxury lifestyle.

Mr Barry White, for Luke Connors, said he played a much lesser part in the frauds and had been involved with genuine and honest transactions with the victims. He had no involvement with the biggest fraud.