Wolverhampton fraudster admits £76k escort agency scam

Stuart Aitchison, from Wolverhampton, was warned he now again faces jail after trading standards officials uncovered his latest operation.

During a hearing at Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday he pleaded guilty to acting fraudulently between June 1, 2010 and December 9, 2011 intending to make gain for himself by falsely representing that he was able to provide work to escorts. It can be revealed today that he operated under two names, Companions UK Professional Escort Service and Fleurs.

He made outlandish claims in adverts that attracted at least 400 people – both men and women - from throughout the country to pay a registration and monthly fees to act as escorts when he had no data base of clients for them to date.

Victims from as far afield as Aberdeenshire were lured into signed up for the bogus escort agency with false promises of earning over £1000-a-week.

But Andy Jervis who is head of regulatory services at Wolverhampton City Council and in overall control of the local authority's Trading Standards department said they found no records of any calls or bookings.

Computers seized from his home showed no details of any business activity but statements revealed almost £77,000 had gone through bank accounts linked to him between 2010 and 2011.

The unemployed 43-year-old from rented accommodation in Church Road, Oxley, was sent to prison for three and a half years in June 2003 for setting up another fake escort agency that preyed on the "naive, gullible and financially desperate" who paid a total of £300,000 to be on the books.

This time the fraud involved a total loss of £76,725, revealed prosecutor Kevin Saunders who added that there would be no Proceeds of Crime case because "this defendant has no realistic assets." Lee Markley, defending, conceded: "A custodial sentence seems inevitable."

Aitchison will be sentenced on March 11, the father-of-three was given bail until that date to allow him to resolve "child care issues."

Fraudster promised to provide lucrative escort jobs - See today's Express & Star