The victim said he has been “used and exploited and will never recover”
Joshua Teale(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
A Leeds man says he will never get into another relationship after being duped by a romance fraudster who stole £177,000 from him.
The man first met Joshua Teale, 32, while working at Arla Foods. Teale, of Middlecroft Road, Belle Isle, started to work there with an agency and the pair struck up a friendship, often chatting. They lost contact when Teale left his role after 18 months, but a cruel twist of fate threw the man into his path again.
Prosecutor Jordan Millican told Leeds Crown Court on Friday: “At some point in 2020 the complainant was in McDonald’s in Hunslet and saw the defendant. They spoke for a while and exchanged contact details.
“The next morning, the defendant called the victim, saying bailiffs were at his address saying they were going to take all of his things if he didn’t give them £4,000. He [the man] was trusting and gave him the cash outside Morrisons in Hunslet. He made promises to pay the victim back.”
A month later, the victim again heard from Teale who this time said his mother had died and he needed financial help. He claimed to have been moved to Blackpool as the mental health services in Leeds were full and he had been staying in a hostel. He said he needed to pay for legal fees for his mother’s home.
The court heard Teale’s mother was very much alive.
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Mr Millican said: “He [the victim] agreed to pay around £1,900 a month. Most contact was over email or texts and he apparently received an email from the defendant’s solicitor. After doing checks on the solicitor, he found there was no match.”
The court heard the victim believed Teale was heterosexual as he had mentioned previous girlfriends and was shocked when he asked him to be his boyfriend in 2022.
The court heard: “The victim was in shock and didn’t expect the relationship to develop that way. He said that over a few months they began talking every day over text and email. The defendant would refer to him as ‘Babe’ and sent images of a sexual nature. He sent images of himself and was made to feel like they were in a relationship.”
It was said the man worked many hours and took out a loan to continue to pay Teale £1,900 who continued to lie and come up with new ideas to make the man feel sorry for him.
He went on to claim he had been struck by Covid-19 and was in hospital in London as there was no space in Leeds. The victim sent more money “to support medical bills” before he was told Teale was receiving care from a nurse called Julie.
Mr Millican said: “He said that because he was so poorly the nurse had his phone and was replying to messages on his behalf. The man had never spoken with her, it was always over text or email. The defendant told the victim he had been moved to a hospital in Glasgow and needed money to pay Julie and medical bills.”
Leeds Crown Court(Image: Huddersfield Examiner)
His web of lies finally untangled on May 19, 2023, when the victim when into a Lloyds Bank to transfer money to him. A staff member became concerned after looking at past transactions to the same account and flagged it.
Mr Millican said: “Since 2020, he had paid £130,000 to him. She put a marker on his record if he was to return to transfer money. 10 days later, he asked for more to be sent. Due to the flag, staff stopped the victim and took him into a private room and questioned why he was sending money to the complainant.
“Following banking protocol, the clerk called the police. Prior to them arriving, the victim called Julie and asked her to get the victim to call him back. He left a voicemail. Around five minutes later, he called him back and the phone was handed to the bank manager and he confessed to it all being a lie.
“He stated he had a huge gambling debt.”
The court heard officers arrived and the victim told them Teale was his partner and he was in hospital and was sending him money. Officers spoke with Teale over the phone who stated his innocence, telling them he would pay the victim back. The victim refused to engage and officers left the bank.
The prosecutor added: “They got a call 30 minutes later to inform them that the defendant had turned up at the bank, despite alleging to be in Glasgow.
“He was arrested and stated he knew what he had done.”
The court heard the man he had duped was “living in misery” and could not afford electricity and was working two jobs to pay things back.
Teale’s bank statements showed a “huge part of the money sent to him was frittered away on gambling websites.”
In a victim personal statement, the man told the court he will never get into another relationship. He said: “This case is still something of a surprise to me even now because the last thing I expected is that this individual could turn into a criminal. I put my life basically on hold for absolutely nothing.
“They knew that the only thing I wanted was my own car and now that has been deferred until I have rectified my finances. The key saving grace I have is not classing this person as a former partner. A true partner wouldn’t even consider such disgusting and disgraceful behaviour. He told me his mum was deceased but she was and still is very much alive.
“He took everything from me and I worked every day to support him and his needs. I gave up three years of my life sacrificing everything I wanted to achieve and staved myself and lived on the bare minimum to support him. I lost a significant amount of weight and was running on a few hours sleep each day,
“I’m still not sure where all of that money has gone. This whole ordeal has left me with no trust of others, especially romantic relationships. I have been used and exploited and will never recover.”
The court heard Teale had four previous convictions for 11 offences, including one of fraudulently using registration marks from 2012.
Mitigating, Matthew Harding said Teale had pleaded guilty to fraud on the day of his trial. He said: “It came very much at the 11th hour, and that is something he expresses regret about. He knows he ought to have these proceedings to an end but it was perhaps the fear of the inevitable.
“This offending was born out of a long-standing addiction to gambling. It perhaps provides an explanation for it. This was not born out of a desire to enrich and live a high life, but of a compulsion – a compulsion of his own making, but an addiction.”
The court heard Teale had suffered difficulties in his early life. Mr Harding added: “He knows that he will go to custody today. There are, it seems, looking to the future, some stabilising factors…His future is not without hope. It is often said by defendants that this is the last time, but through me he expresses that.”
Recorder Paige jailed Teale for five years and three months and ordered him to pay back the total amount he stole, over £177,000, to his victim. While in custody, he will pay the sum back at £1 a month and that amount will be revisited once he is released. The judge also made a restraining order until further order, prohibiting Teale from contacting the victim.
The judge said Teale’s gambling addiction started with scratch cards and slot machines 16 years ago.
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