Isleworth Crown Court
(Picture: PA Archive)A London conman who posed as an antiques dealer from a Chelsea auction house to fleece elderly victims out of £255,000 has been jailed for five-and-a-half years.
Peter Taylor, 61, from Twickenham, posted flyers through letterboxes in west London homes to target people desperate for money.
He went into their homes to collect antiques, offering to value them himself at his workplace or invite experts to assess them.
Taylor would store or sell the precious items, including artwork, rugs and jewellery, but pocket the money for himself, usually ceasing contact with his victims.
He was found guilty of 11 counts of fraud following a trial which concluded in January.
Sentencing at Isleworth Crown Court on Thursday, Judge Sarah Paneth said the defendant had been "motivated by greed and arrogance".
She said: “All the evidence demonstrates that everything you’ve done is for your own profit, that once you got the items you treated them as your own and regarded their owners as annoyances who you simply swatted away or even abused.
“You abused the trust of decent, trusting people."
The judge said Taylor had not shown "any remorse" for causing his victims "considerable distress", who she said had been through a "very painful experience”.
Helen Shaw, district crown prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said: “During the trial a number of the victims gave vital evidence detailing the fraud, and the difficult toll that it had taken on their personal lives and finances.
“Many of the victims described being left feeling anxious and stressed by the scam.”
Roy Turner told the court he lost between £5,000 and £10,000 after entrusting Taylor to sell his collection of watercolours and prints.
He told the court it had taken his “whole life” to build the collection, which had “great sentimental value” and with which he had wanted to raise money for his son and daughter-in-law to buy a house.
"I now realise I am probably a vulnerable old man. I didn’t think I was," he said.
Chef Eric Payet believes he lost at least £112,000 after allowing Taylor to clear out two of his restaurants of expensive kitchen equipment, furniture and artwork, a step he took because he was in dire financial straits.
Prosecutor Katrina Charles said: “He was embarrassed because he had placed his trust in Peter Taylor.”
Maria Gabriela Ponce de Leao, herself an antiques dealer for around 30 years, lost items she considered to be her “life savings” worth around £40,000, including a £2,500 cuckoo clock, a Cartier box and an 18-carat gold ring.
Lady Patsy Alliott, who gave evidence a month before her 90th birthday, described "suffering extreme distress and anxiety" as a result of Taylor’s actions and "has expressed a desire to have her items", including a rosewood jewellery box, returned.
Ms Charles said: “Each and every victim invited Mr Taylor into their home, into their personal space, and spoke with him and allowed him to remove items from their home address.
“Particularly those of a certain age, it made them feel very vulnerable.”
The court heard Taylor has two previous convictions for 10 offences and was previously jailed for four years over a £1.4 million scam involving his property development business.
