A dad "obsessed and fixated" with the loss of his house in a repossession tried to steal £4million with a bizarre fraud involving forged court documents.
Paul Cooke, now 58, sobbed in the dock as the court heard he even roped his then 17-year-old son into his "twisted and elaborate" fraud attempts against three different companies, who he believed had wronged him in various ways. His son, Tom Cooke, helped his dad file "ludicrous" claims to the County Courts, but was not convicted of involvement in the final, most audacious attempt against Birmingham Midshires Financial Services Ltd.
Liverpool Crown Court heard the pair, both of Millbrook Lane in Eccleston, St Helens, filed claims against the companies at the County Court but did not include the correct addresses for their headquarters, meaning when court staff sent notice of the legal action to the defendants with a court date it was never received - meaning they had no idea they were being sued.
