This week 60 years ago: ‘Mean’ fraud on Holloway flat hunter
Islington Gazette: September 21, 1956 - Credit: Archant
A “mean and petty” fraudster was jailed for nine months after tricking a flat hunter out of £11.
Frederick Lester, 41, obtained the cash from unwitting Douglas Griffin.
Mr Griffin, of Hillmarton Road, Holloway, said Lester came to him and said he had seen an estate agent about a flat, before taking an £8 deposit on a cooker and fridge. Lester, who had also taken a £3 advance, was not seen again.
Lester, of Saxton House, Upper Holloway, had six previous convictions. North London Magistrates’ Court heard they were “mostly for false pretences”.
Magistrate Seymour Collins said: “This is not the first time you have done this sort of thing.
“It is a mean and petty thing to obtain money from people who are searching for a house.”
