Conman.. James Ridley, if you can help please.

gatita

I have a friend that has just been the victim of a real bas****. Ok, she was far too trusting so to an extent is somewhat to blame. He took her travelling through Spain, Portugal ,France............in Nice he just disappeared! she was left with nothing. I managed to get her home, she has now found out he has accessed her banking details, and taken a total of £11.000! (included in his spending, hand made shoes! cases and cases of Virgin Wine! air ticket car insurance etc etc.)
The police won't/can't do anything, or the bank as she was 'careless' with her cards and pin, the banks have now blocked things.

He said he had a house in Yelverton Devon, (mansion more like!) we went there to see if we could get any info. The man that REALLY owns the house said that 3 other women had been told the same thing, that he (the !!!!!!) owned it. He, the real owner had reported it to the police, and said he would forward my friends tale of wo onto them also.

I know my friend will never see her money again, but all we want is to bring him to justice, and to stop him doing the same thing to someone else.This guy is a real smooth operator, Oxford educated etc etc and has been doing this for a long time. if anyone can think of ANYTHING at all to help we would be so very grateful. He travels constantly, and for the past 3 months has lived on the Costa Blanca Spain.

My friend went through 2 very serious operations last year, and also suffers with depression.........I am very afraid of her reaction to all this, she says its terrible about the money, but the way he has abused her trust and played with her emotions is worse.
PLEASE some one help.

soolin

I do have one suggestion and you would need to think about it. Approach a woman's weekly magazine and get them to run an article, they will at least be able to mention his method of operation and possibly stop other women being conned.

Then be persistent with the police, get a report opened, again it won't actually help your friend but at least it will be on file if more reports come in and they might be able to do something in the future.

Unfortunately these types of conmen still operate despite women being much more aware, they tend to pick their victims carefully and choose people that are perhaps a bit naive and trusting. Just be a good friend, support her in her anger and be there for her. She probably feels very foolish and may be reluctant to go out and socialise again, so just be there for her and encourage her gently.

hollydays

Find a forum on the costas and publicise what he is doing in order to track him down?

How do you know the house owner is not lying?

Or,post whatever info you have about his i/d,usual haunts, on here.Could she speak to the cab or a private detective?

If you put the address of the house it might allow others to find this thread.

gatita

Thanks for the reply Hollydays. Yes we do know the REAL owner of the house now, that has been verified, and he is VERY angry that this James Ridley is using his property to lure and con women, that is why he has reported this James Ridley to the police in Devon.

I agree the easiest way to catch him would be a private detective, BUT as Ridley travels extensively through France Portugal, and has lived in Spain for the last 3 months in the Murcia region, it would be far too expensive, AND HE has stolen all her money! My friend is pretty sure Ridley lives in the Darlington area (Durham) he did speak quite a lot about there, and she has found a receipt for a mobile phone plus payments to Orange.

My friend has done this on a web link, it would be good to try and give it more publicity so anyone else conned by him could look him up! any suggestion more than welcome.

Below the link.
http://sites.google.com/site/jamesridleyconman/

hollydays

Very sad state of affairs for your friend.I am so sorry.What a horrible person he is.karma.hopefully.

max2009

Police can track his phone to find out his various locations for the past few years.Also ring the main evening newspaper in darlington and they should help by asking their readers for any information.Contact the news of the world and the sun and they should print his photo and the story too.

hartcjhart

try posting on these forums,Almeria/Murcia/Granada/Malaga

http://www.viva-almeria.com/modules.php?name=Forums

Oldernotwiser

You might find the Costa Blanca News (English Language paper for the region) is interested on doing an article on him.

max2009

Obtaining money by deception is just one possible charge and you can even be prosecuted now for impersonating someone else on the internet.Did she ever take a photo of the car he drove around ? The number plate would be useful.

gatita

Just an update. My friend has been to the police in Alicante to report the theft. She was there for 3 hours! at least they didn't just give her the brush off. Apparently it goes before the judge, and he/she decides what measures to take if any. So fingers crossed. She did say they were very attentive and seemed interested in apprehending him.

On another side she has found a company in Murcia called Ridley Trading......... dealing with property etc. It seems a bit of a coincidence to me that there is a company of that name there, and also that he had employed a lawyer in the region.......... or maybe I am jumping to conclusions.Will let you all know how things go. Thank you agin all of you for your imput.:o

MaximumImpact

Police can track his phone to find out his various locations for the past few years.Also ring the main evening newspaper in darlington and they should help by asking their readers for any information.Contact the news of the world and the sun and they should print his photo and the story too.

They won't track his phone.....I can assure you of that..also they will only assist the spanish Police if the offences occured there.