A fashion shop owner who lost thousands of pounds in a luxury handbag scam lured her fraudster to a pub car park to have him arrested.
Christine Colbert, 58, owner of Dress Cheshire in Prestbury, met Jack Watkin when he contacted her after noticing she was selling a Hermes Birkin bag.
The 26-year-old, who described himself as a “Kardashian of Cheshire”, went on to defraud her of more than £43,800 after persuading her to loan him money which he claimed he would use to buy and sell the luxury bags at a profit.
On Tuesday, Ms Colbert, holding a Hermes handbag, spoke outside Chester Crown Court after Watkin pleaded guilty to six counts of fraud.
She said: “It’s been a very long journey.
“Obviously Cheshire Police have been fantastic but myself and another victim did go on quite a lone detective journey ourselves to bring our own evidence to the police with this.”
On Monday, a jury heard an Instagram post from Ms Colbert about Watkin had been seen by another of his victims, friend Hannah Jakes.
The women got in touch and came up with a plan to find Watkin, who police had been unable to locate.
Ms Colbert said: “Our stories were so similar and we just knew that if we could get him to a meeting, probably rooted in another financial deal, which it was, we could probably pinpoint a place.”
After arranging the meet, Ms Colbert waited in the car park of The Merlin pub in Alderley Edge, wearing a large hat and in someone else’s car, and when Watkin arrived she called 999.
She said: “He wasn’t too pleased to see who was under the hat.
“I needed him to know it was me because I told him that if he didn’t pay me back I’d come out on this.
“He worked on the basis that people would be too embarrassed or they were wealthy enough to write it off. I didn’t fall into those categories.”
Ms Colbert said she felt “hugely betrayed” by Watkin, who she had considered a friend.
“Jack was an extremely believable person,” she said.
“His depth of knowledge of the luxury goods industry was quite staggering to be perfectly honest, considering his age as well.
“I was very much convinced that his lifestyle which we could see on social media was true and, to be fair, he was living that lifestyle, it just happened to be on everybody else’s money.”
She described him as a “charming individual” and said she would be met with “riddles” when she tried to talk to him about the money he owed her.
She added: “I have absolutely no idea what is in his mind and what he thought.
“I don’t think he’s worked a day in his life. He’s rewritten history in his own mind and that’s a fantasy world that he lives in.
“He thinks it’s ok to live off other people’s money.”
