A ‘conniving, cold and callous’ fraudster conned his friends, work colleagues and an ex-partner out of a total of £97,000 in a fake investment scheme.
Matthew Normyle, 42, invited seven people to invest in his boiler business, which he claimed would ensure them modest returns after 90 days, whilst he was living in Rochdale.
However, he repeatedly came up with excuses, and his investors were left significantly out of pocket, Manchester Crown Court heard.
READ MORE: Drug courier jailed after block of cocaine worth £142,000 found in car he was driving
Over the course of two-and-a-half years, he took a total of £97,250.
He did pay back one friend to the tune of £10,000, but that was shy of £15,000 of what they had already given him.
Normyle was tracked down to Manchester Airport in May last year, and admitted to the police that he had targeted his friends as he ‘knew they trusted him’. He went on to voluntarily admit further victims of his fraud.
He pleaded guilty to eight offences of fraud by false representation and was jailed for two years and 10 months today (January 4).
Prosecuting, Claire Thomas detailed each victim who had been affected by Normyle’s offending.
The first was Stuart Smith who had known Normyle since 2012 and believed they were ‘good friends’.
After returning to the UK from living abroad in May 2018, he moved in with Normyle, who offered him an investment opportunity.
“He knew he had £10,000, having sold his bar abroad,” Ms Thomas said.
“He advised that he purchased boilers and sold them to Jones Homes under his business, which he called ‘Elite Heating’.
“There were further discussions and he decided to send him the £10,000 as he believed the defendant was a good friend and trusted him.”
Mr Smith was due to be paid in August of that year, but Normyle said that due to tax issues, it would be put back to September.
Normyle asked for a further investment of £3,000, and later said he was taking Jones Homes to court as they hadn’t paid him and would need some cash to assist, and Mr Smith gave him £2,000.
Normyle then said that the business’ account ‘Howie’ had stolen the money and was being investigated for fraud.
In total, Mr Smith paid him £25,000.
The next victim, Anthony Rooney, was offered a similar investment opportunity.
He had been friends with Normyle for seven to eight years, and following further discussions he made an investment of £25,500.
He also introduced his friend, Mark Grundy, who later invested in the scheme.
“Mr Rooney had taken money from his overdraft, credit cards, loans and money that was left for his children,” Ms Thomas continued.
“Normyle later paid him back £10,000 as he was struggling financially.
“Mr Grundy, who had been good friends with Mr Rooney for over 20 years and in total paid £26,000.”
Similar excuses were made, and despite agreeing to meet up with both men to pay the money back, Normyle never showed.
Another victim affected was Joshua Miller who previously worked with Normyle, who paid £7,500.
Also affected was Harry Bourne, a colleague of Normyle's, later becoming a close friend, who invested £5,000; Normyle's ex-girlfriend, Juliana Amaro, who invested £3,250, and Craig Day who invested £5,000.
The only exception to the fraud was Dawn Lavery, who became aware of Normyle through work he did for her dad. She was led to believe by Normyle that her boiler was in a 'dangerous state' and quoted £2,500 for him to carry out the work.
In emotional victim personal statements, each victim shared their devastation following Normyle’s breach of trust.
Mr Rooney said he had to work overtime to maintain his finances, that he had suffered from depression and felt ‘embarassed and stupid’.
Mr Bourne said Normyle had given him seemingly legitimate details and had shown him bank statements of how much money he was making, and so made him believe that if he invested the money, he would get it back.
“It turned out to be the biggest mistake of my life,” he said.
Mr Grundy said the offence had a big impact on him as he had promised his daughter that he would help with a deposit for her - but had been unable to assist her.
He said he had been working overtime to save some money and felt down and depressed.
In a police interview, Normyle told officers that he had been in debt from numerous lenders and payday loans.
“He said he was not sure how much currently, but estimated at about £60,000 and £70,000,” the prosecutor said.
“He said he picked people who trusted him as targets, and admitted to the other victims.”
Normyle was said to have no previous convictions.
Mitigating, Gerald Baxter said his client expressed remorse and was ashamed of what he has done.
“He accepts what he did was totally wrong and totally dishonest and totally selfish,” he said.
“He accepts the victims in this case were people who were friends, colleagues and they trusted him, and he took advantage and abused the trust they had in him.
“He accepts that he got himself in financial difficulty and tried to get out of it by a scheme that was completely fictitious.”
Mr Baxter added that Normyle previously had a good career in the RAF, then worked for British Gas, but lost his job and began overspending.
Sentencing, Recorder Daniel Prowse said: “All of the victims in this case were hard working people themselves, with families who worked hard, only for their money to be taken from them.
“So many victims lost so much money which demonstrated what a conniving, cold and callous fraudster you were.
“They trusted you, and you targeted them because they trusted you.”
Normyle, of Lord Street, Morecambe, was jailed for two years and 10 months.
A Proceeds of Crime Act hearing was set for April 21 this year.
Detective Constable Clara Williams, from GMP's Complex Fraud Investigation Team, said: "Normyle made the despicable decision to take advantage of his friends, colleagues and former partner to pay off his own debts and fund his own lifestyle and we're pleased that he is being punished for his crimes.
"His actions have had a devastating impact on those around him, purely to cover his own back after living well beyond his means, and racking up debts with various loan companies.
"While we're pleased Normyle will be spending time behind bars, we will be seeking to use Proceeds of Crime legislation so that should Normyle come into any money we can take it and return some of what the victims lost.
"Fighting fraud is a relentless task, but we will continue to work diligently to strip the ill-gotten gains from criminals and I'd like to thank the public for continuing to support our work by reporting fraud, and sharing information. If you see something, or suspect something is wrong, tell us, and we can do something about it."
See the latest court and crime news in your area by receiving email updates
