A serial fraudster who defrauded around £100,000 from at least 10 women across the UK by claiming to be a fighter pilot, a Vietnam War veteran and that he was once married to a billionaire.
David Checkley, 65, has been jailed for 11 years after he tricked his victims he mostly met through dating apps into sending him thousands of pounds using fake tales about his life, previous jobs and connections to influential people.
He duped a string of women into romantic relationships by making them believe he was “an intelligent, knowledgeable and powerful man”, before encouraging them to send him money.
Checkley, who also went by the alias David Cohen, bought expensive cars, motorbikes and jewellery with the cash he swindled from at least 10 women – all aged between 40 and 70 years old.
One woman was conned out of £3,200 after going on a couple of dates with Checkley when he asked her for cash to pay for new windows.
He promised to pay her back in two days, but kept making excuses and then asked her £400,000 – which she refused.
Another woman paid him £1,000 with the promise to return the money once “foreign investors” paid him what he was due.
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The fantasist’s fabrications included that he once fought in the Vietnam War, had an ex-wife who was an American billionaire and that he was a successful architect who built expensive homes for millionaires.
He also told victims he was in the US Air Force and that he had powerful friends, according to the Met Police.
Checkley also claimed he recently bought a house in Barnet, north London, worth £3.2m but one of his victims discovered the home was still for sale.
When his victims found out his real name and Googled him, they discovered his previous conviction for similar crimes in 2010.
Detective Superintendent John Roch, from the Met’s Economic Crime Team, said: “There is no doubt that Checkley is a prolific and systematic fraudster who spun a web of lies to his victims.
“He abused the honest intentions of his victims in the most callous way. He is a fantasist who claimed to lead an enviable lifestyle but in reality, he is a criminal who deceived innocent people for his own financial gain.”
Two victims were in relationships with Checkley for five years without knowing anything about his crimes or real background.
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Police began investigating him in 2021 after women began reporting his suspicious behaviour to detectives.
Within a week of the investigation, detectives discovered two more potential new victims and several possible further homes for Checkley, along with various other high-end goods.
While this investigation was beginning, Checkley was on holiday in Ibiza.
Convicted of 19 fraud counts
Officers searched the home of a woman he had been in a relationship with for five years and discovered invoices for expensive jewellery, a brochure for a large mansion in Hertfordshire and a receipt in a woman’s name for a £7,250 Rolex watch bought in 2018.
In the garage at the home in Harrow, northwest London, two new Harley Davidson bikes worth around £40,000 were uncovered, along with a Mini and three Mercedes all linked to Checkley parked nearby.
Checkley was arrested at the address when he returned to the UK in July 2021.
In another woman’s house in Westminster, central London, officers unearthed bank statements with accounts he had asked women to pay money into, police said.
At the Old Bailey, Checkley, of St Albans, Hertfordshire, was found guilty of 19 counts of fraud and one count of theft.
A judge sentenced him to 11 years in jail on Wednesday after an eight-week trial in which 10 female victims gave evidence.
