Gang who stole Sh142million lottery winner's identity blew Sh5.8m on betting site

A gang plotted to steal from a disabled Sh142 million (£1m) lottery winner and squander her cash on betting websites - placing more than Sh5.8m (£41,000) of bets in just 100 minutes.

The defendants gained access to the woman's ID, her bank details, her driving licence and other personal information.

This allowed them to use her identity to steal from her, a court heard

A court heard that the victim was deliberately targeted because she had a significant amount of money, Gazette Live reports.

The conspirators gambled with a bogus online betting account set up from a North Sea oil rig under her name, a court heard.

The group was made up of Middlesbrough brothers Jamie and Jacob Tindall, their cousin Aaron Harvey, friend Lee ‘Liam’ Khan and Kayleigh Robinson.

They will all be sentenced in April after admitting the theft conspiracy at Teesside Crown Court on Tuesday.

Jamie Tindall, 29, also known as Mark, and Harvey, 26, were cleared of blackmailing the lottery winner for hundreds of pounds.

Prosecutor Jo Kidd said: “The Crown’s case is that she was deliberately targeted because she had a significant amount of money.

“She was targeted not simply because she was a very wealthy woman, but also because she was a particularly vulnerable and wealthy woman.

“She was vulnerable to the attention of these defendants.

“These defendants gained access to her ID, her bank details, her driving licence and other personal information which then later allowed them to use her identity to steal from her.”

A fraudulent account was set up under the victim’s name with the website Bet365 from the oil platform where “seasoned gambler” Khan, 31, and Jacob Tindall, 32, worked, Ms Kidd said.

She told the court them and the others back in Middlesbrough “set about over a very short period of time placing extremely high bets

The prosecutor continued: "Over the course of about 100 minutes, in excess of £41,000 was bet through that account.

“They were pretending that it was (the woman) who had set up the account.

“And they accessed her bank account in order to place the bets.”

The betting company became suspicious and froze the account, she added.

The conspirators went to “desperate measures” to persuade Bet365 the account was legitimate, it was alleged.

An email was sent under a fake address in the woman’s name and another woman posed as her in a phone call, said Ms Kidd.

The group used the victim’s name to visit other betting sites and make credit card applications, the court heard.

Khan admitted three theft charges after he used her banking information to pay credit card bills and invest £13,500 of her money in his share dealing account while on the oil rig.

Eventually the bank declined to give the woman money and she found about £70,000 was gone from her account.

Harvey, of Gresham, Middlesbrough; Khan, of Newport, Middlesbrough; Jacob Tindall, of Linthorpe, Middlesbrough; and Jamie Tindall, of no fixed address, all initially denied conspiracy to steal between February and May 2014.

A trial was aborted on its second day last week and the jury discharged.

No new trial started as all four men eventually pleaded guilty to the theft conspiracy.

Harvey said he played a part in obtaining documents but not using them fraudulently and made no financial gain.

Jamie Tindall’s former girlfriend Kayleigh Robinson, 25, of Town Farm, Middlesbrough, admitted the charge at an earlier date.

The five are on bail and will be sentenced on April 20.

A sixth defendant Joshua Mains, of Ingleby Barwick , was cleared of the theft conspiracy after as as the prosecution offered no evidence against him.

He is already serving a six-and-a-half-year jail term after he was convicted of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs in a cross-country heroin ring last September.

Harvey and Jamie Tindall were accused of blackmailing the woman in messages demanding money until she said she handed over £200.

They were cleared of blackmail as the Crown offered no evidence on the two blackmail charges following the conspiracy pleas.