A fraudster told "grotesque lies" and pretended that people, including his own son, had died as part of a bid to "play on the heart strings" of shop workers so that would give him false refunds for stolen items.
Cunning Simon Porter, 47, behaved in a "repulsive" way to "play on the good nature" and get sympathy from "good people" with elaborate tales, including that his son had died of cancer. He managed to succeed in two of his lies, and had a history of 215 previous convictions with 134 of them fraud-related, Hull Crown Court heard.
Porter, of Hull, admitted to five offences of fraud between May 12 and 31. Prosecutor, Benjamin Donnell, said that Porter entered a Tesco supermarket on May 12 and went to the customer service desk, where he asked to speak to the manager, Grimsby Live reports.
