'Cruel and deceptive' conman scammed victims out of more than £1m

A man who conned his victims after more than a million pounds has been jailed for nearly nine years.

Paul Henderson, 55, from Newcastle, was described as "cruel and deceptive" following a lengthy investigation which started in 2018.

The North East Regional Organised Crime Unit (NEROCU) said he had targeted 23 victims.

Henderson, of Mansion Heights, Whickham, pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud by false representation.

Following the sentencing one victim said: “Our lives have been completely altered. Paul took our money that was for our retirement. Money that we can never make up as we are pensioners, money that he knew he could not and would not pay back.”

On 27 January this year, he pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud by false representation and on Thursday 20 April, was sentenced to eight years and nine months imprisonment.

NEROCU said Henderson had been conducting several fraudulent schemes and using money from new schemes to help sell his others to victims between 2012-2018.

Trainee Detective Inspector Thomas Maughan said: “Henderson has shown no consideration for the impact his criminal actions has on his victims and how their lives are changed forever.

“He is a cruel and deceptive man who will now face the consequences of his choices.”

Northumbria police’s head of economic crime, Detective Chief Inspector Clare Chandler said: “Economic crime poses an increasingly complex threat to UK national security and prosperity.

“The North East Regional Economic Crime Unit are fully committed to pursuing criminals and enablers of economic crime.”

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