Three men who stole £60K from nearly 50 elderly victims jailed

Aaron Leacock, Warren Roache and Sean Lee made scam phone calls posing as bank employees and would swindle money from strangers by telling them a courier was coming to collect their card.

They then withdrew large sums of cash or spent money in shops near where the victims lived.

• READ MORE: Police officer dismissed for failing to stop at scene of crash

All but one of the 47 victims, who were located across the south east of England, were aged 70 or over.

Police were able to locate an address where the calls were made from burner phones in Purley High Street, south London.

CCTV footage gathered led to the number plate of Roache’s car being uncovered, which police were able to trace after it had been stopped by Sussex Police for an unrelated offence in October 2018.

Aaron Leacock (left) and Warren Roache

A phone and sim card were found in the car, which was later found to be connected to several of the fraudulent calls.

Leacock and Roache were arrested in March 2019, while Lee was arrested in August that year. All three suspects were charged in November 2020.

At Maidstone Crown Court, the trio admitted conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.

Roache, 38, of Orpington, was jailed for three years and two months for 37 offences.

Lee, 40, of South Norwood, was spared jail and his 20-week sentence was suspended.

Leacock, 34, of Croydon, was jailed for two years and three months for 47 offences.

However, a judge ruled he will serve the sentence alongside a current five-year sentence for similar crimes.

In 2017, he was also jailed for 20 months for scamming £17,500 out of pensioners.

Detective Superintendent Patrick Milford said: “These offenders systematically preyed on the elderly after they specifically identified them as being vulnerable.

“They caused a huge amount of distress to the victims, who were left feeling deceived and betrayed by people they believed they could trust. Their actions are completely deplorable.

“I am pleased that we were able to unravel the pattern of their criminality and secure justice for the victims.

“A custodial term is the only acceptable outcome, and I am pleased they are now unable to target innocent members of the public

“Although the victims of this particular case were elderly, these types of crime can impact anyone and knowing the tactics offenders like these men use can help you avoid losing money.”