A conman exposed by the Sunday Mail for duping people out of designer watches has been accused of doing the same with expensive handbags.
Champagne-sipping charmer Andrew Batchelor – dubbed the Menace of Mayfair – boasts he can offer the best price for Rolexes and Cartiers.
But the smoothie fails to tell would-be customers he’s been sent to prison three times.
Glaswegian Batchelor, 62, who is using the name Andrew Asquith, claims to have gone straight.
But at least three people who handed over valuables have gone to police.
In 1997 he was unveiled as a conman in the Sunday Mail after misleading rich jewellery owners to take their items from them.
Two customers have now been successfully awarded County Court Judgments against Batchelor, claiming he owes cash after they handed over valuables.
Alleged victims say they are owed thousands by the trickster – previously dubbed the Glasgow Goldfinger in Scotland.
Samantha Smith, 34, says she handed two Chanel bags worth £4300 to Asquith after meeting him in a private members’ club in Kensington in 2019. He allegedly told the executive he had a jewellery shop – but it was closed for repairs.
Samantha said: “It didn’t seem suspicious as we were in a private members’ club and people seemed to know him. But two days later, he wasn’t responding to my messages.
“That’s when I did some digging and discovered who he really was. There was tons of info about him being in prison for fraud.
“I managed to get £3000 back from him but only because I harassed him for months and spammed his social media to make people aware of who he is.
“He used to ring me to tell me money had gone into my account and it would be £10. I’d get £20, then three months later another £20.
“The police told me that he gets away with it by paying people a really small amount of money when they complain.
“The police can’t do anything because he says he is paying in instalments.”
Batchelor was jailed for five years in 2009 after pleading guilty to 29 charges.
Within months of his release, he broke the conditions of the banning order.
In 2012, he was jailed for two-and-a-half years for failing to comply with a Serious Crime Prevention Order.
