Hotel manager faces jail and deportation for fraud and theft
A chef who impressed a hotel owner so much he was promoted to general manager turned out to be a high-class conman who had previously used at least five different identities.
Anthony Declerck who had been working at Graythwaite Manor in Grange-over-Sands, South Cumbria, was jailed for two-and-a-half years after admitting a series of fraud and theft charges when he appeared before Carlisle Crown Court.
Declerck was also ordered to be deported when he finishes his sentence - even though his real country of origin, nationality or identity are not currently known.
The court heard that hotel owner Jane Duncan called in police after finding that £20,000 in cash had been taken and more than £20,000 worth of bills had been racked up on hotel debit cards during the seven-month period when Declerck worked at the hotel in 2007.
At one point she had even been persuaded to help him fund the purchase of a Rolls Royce, the court heard.
Evidence was given that, using aliases, Declerck had previously posed as a Belgian nobleman and an American secret serviceman to defraud other people. He had just finished a four-year sentence for defrauding a woman in Yorkshire.
Jailing him Judge Paul Batty said: "You are a highly intelligent, consummate fraudster who seeks out people who he considers to be easy touches and, having sought them out, milks them for all they have got.
"Your continued presence in this country would be to the potential detriment to the people living here."
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