A man has been caught telling "grotesque lies" to "play on the heart strings" of shop staff so they could give him refunds for items he had stolen.
Serial fraudster Simon Porter played "on the good nature" of "good people" in order to get sympathy by spinning "elaborate stories" such as his son dying from cancer just to make a quick buck. Porter, who has 215 previous convictions - 134 of which are fraud-related - managed to get away with two of his outrageous lies, Hull Crown Court heard.
The 47-year-old, of Bachelor Street, Hull, admitted to five offences of fraud between May 12 and 31. Benjamin Donnell, prosecuting, told the court that Porter entered Tesco in Morton Lane, Beverley, on May 12 and headed to the customer service desk where he requested to speak to the store's manager, Hull Live reports.
