‘Devious’ fraudster jailed again

A LETTERSTON man jailed in July for assaulting his mother, has been jailed again for fraud.

William John Thomas, aged 55, received a 32 month sentence in the summer but more offending was being investigated.

Swansea crown court heard this week how Thomas, of Station Road, Letterston, prior to his arrest, had received £100,000 as his share of a divorce settlement following the sale of a property.

He also received an annuity payment of £3,000 and two pensions paying him about £1,200 a year.

He had £90,000 in savings left when, in May 2008, he applied for income support and told the Department for Work and Pensions he was broke. Thomas repeated the lie until 2013 when he was found out.

Thomas was paid a total of £5,802 he had not been entitled to because his savings had been above the limit.

Judge Paul Thomas heard that as the DWP closed in Thomas sent them a letter “from his GP” saying he was too ill to be interviewed for at least six months.

But although it appeared to be on the letterhead of his surgery it was a forgery. The court also heard that Thomas was carrying out a bizarre fraud on the John Lewis retail partnership.

Thomas sent “numerous” e-mails to 22 stores claiming he had received faulty products and 14 stores sent him household goods ranging from steak knives to food processors as “replacements” even though he had not actually bought anything in the first place.

Again, Thomas tried to fool police by producing e-mails showing he traded on-line with retailers like Comet and British Home Stores. But they, too, had been faked by Thomas.

He admitted both frauds and twice attempting to pervert the course of justice. His barrister, Ieuan Rees, said Thomas had not been in trouble with the law until he was 49 when his marriage broke up in.

He said Thomas suffered from depression, had attempted suicide and was finding jail difficult to deal with. Judge Thomas said Thomas’ unpleasant assault on his own mother showed he was a violent man.

“But you are greedy and dishonest as well.

“To get yourself off the hook you calculatedly and deviously falsified documents.

“You have gone off the rails in a fairly spectacular way in recent years,” he added.