12:02 pm, June 26, 2023
A garage in Devon was conned by a serial fraudster after it lent him a courtesy car while it carried out major repair work on a Land Rover.
Paul Ishowyn Edward Watkins used a false name and convinced the owners of Beacon Garage to give him a courtesy car when he took the Land Rover in for £8,000 of work.
The Ottery St Mary garage’s suspicions were raised when parking tickets started arriving. But the 50-year-old clung on to the courtesy car for nearly five months, Exeter Crown Court was told.
Watkins, of Lady’s Mile Caravan Park, Exeter Road, Dawlish Warren, also lied about who would cough up for the £8,000 bill for the work on the Land Rover, claiming insurers would cover it.
Paul Ishowyn Edward Watkins. Image: Devon & Cornwall Police
The Land Rover specialist stopped working on the vehicle as soon as it tumbled to the fact that he was using a false identity, but the £810 bill that had already mounted was never paid by Watkins, according to the Sidmouth Herald.
The newspaper also said Watkins stole a pal’s identity while house-sitting for them and used their name to buy a BMW costing £17,000.
The BMW was bought on credit from an online dealership but the friend only tumbled to it when they began receiving details about the monthly payments for £480 as well as speeding tickets in their name that had actually been run up by Watkins.
The friend contacted police who arrested Watkins.
Watkins, who lived in Devonport until 2018, was jailed at Plymouth Crown Court for swindles carried out in 2010, 2012 and 2018, when he was given a one-day prison sentence for a £7,000 disability benefit fraud, according to the Herald.
He then moved to Dawlish Warren, with the new subsequent frauds committed in 2019 and 2020. However, he used the name of David Welsh and an address in Wykes Road, Exeter, as well, reported the Herald.
Watkins pleaded guilty at Exeter Crown Court last Wednesday (Jun 21) to five charges of fraud, with Judge David Evans jailing him for 25 months.
In mitigation, Ian Graham told the court Watkins had ‘serious health problems’ and had kept out of trouble for three years.
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