A man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for defrauding people in a jewellery scam valued at more than £1m, a court has heard.
Through two companies, James Charles, from Roman Crescent in Southwick, West Sussex, took jewellery and promised to repair or resell it, only for victims to receive nothing or a fraction of what was promised, Sussex Police said.
The 49-year-old, also known as Jamie Goatley, had changed his plea to guilty for four counts of carrying on business of a company with intent to defraud creditors, or for other fraudulent purposes.
At the sentencing at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday, Judge Martin Griffith said Charles was a “practised and inveterate fraudster”.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Charles continued to defraud people even after being arrested.
“You took goods and sold them… continued to fob off the owners with lies, stories about difficulties with bank accounts, and sadly because they still trusted you for a while people listened and went along with it,” the judge added.
In total, victims lost about £800,000 as part of the scam, which also saw Charles use luxury watches from clients to secure loans, the CPS said.
Of the 31 victims, some trusted Charles with precious gifts and heirlooms.
Amanda Liu said she gave two luxury Patek Philippe watches to Charles and was still without one of them.
“Losing that amount means that we need to start from scratch again, so it is hard work,” she said.
“Especially for people who are hard-working, losing a big sum of your investment, or all in one go, it’s quite heartbreaking.”