The challenge is to finish my second draft of Ra-Ra Rasputin and my first three Metro columns for January (to cover my holiday) before Christmas. The obstacles in my way are Christmas socialising and an annoying cold that I don't seem to be able to shake (possibly because of the Christmas socialising). Luckily my near fight on the tube platform has provided me with one column which I managed to lick into shape this afternoon, but lunch and dinner with friends distracted me from the jobs in hand and I gave myself over to Christmas cheer.
On the tube into town I read about
a bogus landlord conning dozens of people out of deposits for a flat. Coincidentally this is what my column for this Friday's Metro is all about -
the same thing happened to me in the mid-90s.
That article pretty much gives the basics of what occurred though it was hard to tell the whole story in 600 words. Conmen are often portrayed as loveable rogues stealing from idiotic rich people, but the truth is that they're more often immoral, heartless pricks preying on the desperation of the poor. Losing a thousand pounds at that point in my life was pretty devastating, though I was lucky to have the option of moving in with my girlfriend's parents. Some of the other people who turned up to the flat that day had scrimped and saved for the opportunity to move into their own place, one couple had been doing overtime for a year, another guy had just got divorced. This was a cheap flat so he would have been aware that the people renting it could not afford to lose that money. Who knows what long term damage this man's selfishness caused? This wasn't like a prank phone call with unexpected consequences, this was a callous attempt to steal from poor people without any consideration for what would become of them.
And had our move gone without a hitch who knows how differently my life would have turned out? Perhaps the relationship was doomed anyway, but not having our own space and having to live with the inlaws really didn't help us. Ultimately he may have done us both a favour as we weren't a good match, but in the romance of setting up a home together who knows where things might have led? Perhaps we would have had kids. The conman is thus a murderer (though in his defence my then girlfriend went on to have kids with someone else, so the conman saved the lives of those infants).
I was massively humiliated by the con. I'd been suspicious of him and his desire to be paid in cash. I had suggested a banker's draft (something that is the same as cash, but traceable) but he'd made some excuse about the timeframe required (this was all being rushed through) and I was keen to demonstrate that I would be a good and trouble-free tenant. And I thought I was being paranoid because he had an office and a phone number and he somehow convinced me.
I remember taking the cash out of the building society and being terrified I would be mugged. I had resolved that I wouldn't hand it over unless the landlord was also there at the contract signing, but I buckled on this. After all I knew where this guy worked. He was pretty persuasive and I wanted to be persuaded because I wanted to live in this reasonably priced flat. And because I couldn't work out how it could be a con I decided that it wasn't.
But in the week before we were meant to move in I realised I'd been had. He wasn't returning calls and the utility companies were confused when I tried to put the bills in my name. I turned up to the flat with no possessions because I was sure I wasn't going to be moving in. The other people who turned up had no such suspicions. I saw their hearts break in front of my face.
And the fact that he arranged for everyone to turn up at the same time on the same day just shows how mean-spirited and unpleasant he was. He was enjoying the con as much as the money, clearly getting off on the destruction he was causing. Even though I had been prepared for the truth I still felt humiliated and bereft. I rang a friend to tell him about it and ended up bawling my eyes out in the phone booth. They don't show that on Hustle do they?
It took me months to get over and even now I still occasionally kick myself for not acting on my suspicions. If only I had hung around for half an hour after I'd signed the contract then I might have seen hi next victim going in and been able to crack the case. I would have been a hero. Instead I was a chump. I hoped that I would one day bump into the guy on the tube or in the street and planned what awful revenge I would take on him.
The fact that he got caught did make things slightly better and getting our money back was an unlikely and unexpected bonus. Plus now having written a newspaper article about the experience I have ended up making tens of pounds from the crime (it's not on a par with the money I've made by writing a routine about having my iPhone stolen but at least it's something). But even though he was (if I recall correctly) bankrupted and imprisoned after his crime I still don't feel that he has got what he deserves for this nasty crime. I'd still like more revenge. For starters I've just rung the police dealing with this new crime to check that it's not the same guy (there are similarities with the case and that quite bad drawing of the criminal could feasibly be him). So at the very least he might get a little visit from the police to remind him of his grubby past. It's hardly the Count of Monte Cristo stuff, but it's a start.
Even though in the long run the man saved me from what might have been a disastrous mistake I still can't forgive him for the humiliation and the impact he had on those heart-broken tenants whose lives might have been altered for the worst.
Do you like Doctor Who? (you're a fan of mine, so of course you do) Do you want to help Alzheimer's Research? Do you want to read my reminiscence of the Weetabix Doctor Who figures (and loads of other people's DW memories)? Then why not buy
this excellent book, the brain-child of Steve Berry. The perfect Christmas gift for a nerd (if you're a nerd with no friends then buy it for yourself and say it is from You2). It's already raised an amazing £20,000, but it would be even better if it raised more.
What's worse playing yourself at snooker in a basement and recording it or creating a unauthorised, unendorsed website about someone else playing themselves at snooker in a basement? You decide. Mike Stoner has updated his mentally questionable
me1 vs me2 snooker site. Warning- contains spoilers.
And frame 25 is now up in the usual places.
