A quick-talking conman who tricked bookmakers into believing he had won £10,000 has been sentenced to a suspended prison term.
John O'Connor, from Ealing, tricked bookies into thinking he'd won hundreds of pounds when he hadn't even placed a stake.
The silver-tongued fraudster intimidated and confused cashiers - with a technique known in the betting industry as 'slow count fraud"' - to con staff at 14 branches of Ladbrokes across London and the UK.
Tactics included placing a bet but then distracting the cashier - sometimes with the help of friends - by asking questions, becoming rowdy or placing a series of small, obscure bets at the same time. This would allow him time to see if his runner was likely to win.
If the gambler won, he would hand over his stake and claim the profit, or else pretend he had already paid and ask only for his winnings.
He would then place the non-existent stake on another bet but, if he lost, he would leave without paying the stake.
Ladbrokes reported the offences to the Metropolitan Police in April 2013, after he carried out the con at a branch on London's Oxford Street.
Detectives circulated CCTV images of him to police services around the country and Hertfordshire police officers arrested him in July 2014.
O'Connor, 33, of St Mary's Road, was sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court, on Monday (February 9) to 18 months, suspended for two years, after admitting 16 counts of fraud by misrepresentation. He was also given a 12-month supervision order and a four-month alcohol treatment order.
