Fraudster, 58, who conned an aged lady out of £22,000 after assembly her daughter on a web-based courting app has been jailed for 4 years

A ‘fantasist’ fraudster who conned an elderly woman out of her £22,000 life savings after meeting her daughter on a dating app has been jailed for four years. 

John Kavanagh, 58, started a relationship with a woman he met online and shortly after it began he claimed to be having financial problems. 

Kavanagh told the woman and her 84-year-old mother that he owned a large haulage company called ‘Kavanagh QC Transport Limited’, but due to an accident involving a javelin missile he had received a fine and was ‘struggling to make ends meet’.

After discussing the issue with her mother, who offered to help Kavanagh financially on the understanding the money was paid back, the woman gave him £250 and a further £1,200 in 18 separate transactions over seven months.

But by June 2020 she was left with less than £250, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

The court was told Kavanagh’s ex-partner and her mother have both since died, but had given victim impact statements before their deaths in 2022 and 2023. 

A statement read out in court on behalf of the woman said: ‘This incident has left me physically sick. I can’t explain how I feel inside, I feel very vulnerable and responsible for the money taken from my mother. I worry what effect it will have on her health.

It added: ‘No-one has the right to impose themselves on my family and take money in such a deceptive manner.’

John Kavanagh, 58, was jailed for four years at Newcastle Crown Court after conning an elderly woman out of her life savings 

In a statement read out on behalf of the woman’s mother, it said: ‘This incident has left me in shock. I can’t believe I have been deceived in this way. Lent money to John in good faith with the expectation of getting the money back, he has left me with nothing.’

The court heard Kavanagh, who pleaded guilty to one count of fraud, has 32 convictions to 108 offences, with 63 of those relating to dishonesty and fraud.

Kavanagh provided a range of excuses for the cash, which included new tyres for trucks, staff wages, insurance payments and money to transport a fictional truck on a ferry from Saudi Arabia, the court was told. 

The court heard the relationship between the defendant and woman ended in July 2020 when she told him there was no money left. The defendant was ‘disgruntled’ and distanced himself from the woman and her family.

The woman called the police when she believed Kavanagh, of Abbingdon Square, Cramlington, was a ‘fantasist’ and her mother might not get her money back.

The woman’s mother gave Kavanagh £22,360 and none of the money was repaid, the court heard, while around £3,000 was refunded by the bank due to the fraudulent activity.

Newcastle Crown Court heard Kavanagh, who pleaded guilty to one count of fraud, has 32 convictions to 108 offences, with 63 of those relating to dishonesty and fraud

The court heard other family members were also suspicious about the ‘outlandish’ stories he told them. Kavanagh registered the fictitious haulage company in March 2020 but it was never operational, the court was told.

His lies were eventually exposed about his company ‘based in Team Valley’, when another company, where he was meant to share a yard, said they’d never heard of the firm, the court heard.

The defendant told police he was struggling to pay the money back but always intended to pay it back.

The court heard that an investigation revealed the defendant had been in contact with other women he’d met on dating websites and told them the same story about owning a haulage company.

The court was told Kavanagh was ‘very sorry’ to the victims and their family members and ‘wishes he could turn the clock back’. 

On sentencing Kavanagh to four years in prison, Judge Gavin Doig described the defendant as a ‘thoroughly dishonest man’.

He added: ‘It is difficult to think of more shameful offending for a person to commit. 

‘To strip an 84-year-old woman of her life savings and carry on taking her money over a period of many months until she had no more to give, leaving her feeling vulnerable and scared – yet that is what you did.

‘I’m pleased to hear you are now remorseful and sorry for your behaviour. However, you knew what you were doing at the time and carried on doing it.’