![\"Spar](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1_RH051025SparJPG.jpg\")
The Spar in Lammas Street, Carmarthen(Image: Google)<\/p>\nAndrew James convinced the couple to invest \u00a380,000 in a business with him, but all was not as it seemedThe Spar in Lammas Street, Carmarthen(Image: Google)<\/p>\n
A \u201cblatantly dishonest conman\u201d has avoided prison \u201cby the skin of his teeth\u201d after swindling a couple who thought they were going into business together out of thousands of pounds, a court heard.<\/p>\n
Andrew James convinced Christopher and Jocelyn Richards to set up a business with him which would see them take over a Spar shop in the centre of Carmarthen<\/a>. The couple were led to believe they would be partners that would be investing the same amount into the company as James.<\/p>\n After James, aged 58, became friendly with the couple when he was working in another Carmarthen shop, he told them in August, 2018, that he was in the process of taking over the Spar shop in the town\u2019s Lammas Street. Stay informed on Carms news by signing up to our newsletter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n According to prosecution barrister Georgia Donohue, James told Mr and Mrs Richards that he was intending to buy the Spar store for a sum of \u00a3160,000, made up of \u00a380,000 of his money and the rest from a Welsh Government<\/a> grant.<\/p>\n However, he then asked Mr Richards if he would be interested in entering into a partnership whereby both would own 50% of the company, while Mrs Richards would earn an income from working at the shop.<\/p>\n James, of Station Road, Ystradgynlais, told the couple that the \u00a3160,000 would be broken down into \u00a3140,000 for the business itself and a further \u00a320,000 as a business \u201cfloat\u201d.<\/p>\n Mr Richards agreed to put up \u00a380,000 but James requested that the money be transferred into his own personal bank account in order to prove that the necessary funds were available and ready to be used to complete the transaction. He then set up a business called Lammas Street Limited.<\/p>\n However, documents showed the business was registered solely in his name and that he alone owned 100% of the company, something he said was down to an \u201cerror\u201d when questioned about it.<\/p>\n Also, the lease for the shop was under his sole name, Miss Donohue told the court, although an agreement was made that the lease would be transferred into the company name at a later date.<\/p>\n However, Mr and Mrs Richards later found out that James had in fact bought the shop for \u00a350,000 – considerably less than the \u00a3160,000 sum he had told them about. Miss Donohue said that at this stage the complainants became \u201chighly suspicious\u201d.<\/p>\n James was arrested in August, 2020, but denied committing fraud when he was interviewed by police. He eventually admitted one count of fraud and appeared to be sentenced at Swansea<\/a> Crown Court on Wednesday, October 8.<\/p>\n Victim impact statements were read to the court by Miss Donohue. Mr Richards said James\u2019 behaviour had a \u201cdetrimental effect on the lives of myself and my wife\u201d and that they had to borrow money to get by having invested so much into the shop business. Meanwhile, Mrs Richards said: \u201cMy husband trusted the defendant with money. We never doubted him.\u201d<\/p>\n Defence barrister Richard Ace agreed that Mr and Mrs Richards \u201clost several years of their lives dealing with this matter\u201d, adding that his client\u2019s conduct \u201ccreated pressure for a couple who have worked hard for something that was taken away\u201d.<\/p>\n Mr Ace said at the time the fraud was being committed James was \u201cstarting to feel high levels of depression\u201d brought about by his father\u2019s death.<\/p>\n Judge Paul Thomas KC addressed James in court and labelled him a \u201cconman\u201d who he would \u201cdearly love\u201d to send to prison.<\/p>\n \u201cYou are nothing less than a total conman,\u201d the Judge said. \u201cYou swindled them (Mr and Mrs Richards) out of a lot of money. It was a thoroughly dishonest scam.<\/p>\n \u201cYour blatant dishonesty has had a profound effect on the Richards family. I would dearly love to send you to prison today but there are guidelines that I have to follow.\u201d<\/p>\n Judge Thomas KC noted James\u2019 previous good character and sentenced him to 20 months imprisonment, a term which will be suspended for 18 months. James will also need to complete a 10-day rehabilitation activity order, undertake a mental health treatment requirement, and complete 250 hours of unpaid work.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have escaped prison today by the skin of your teeth,\u201d added Judge Thomas KC, speaking directly to James.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you miss any of those appointments (the requirements listed above) you will be brought back before me and I will send you to prison in a heartbeat.\u201d<\/p>\n A Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) hearing connected to the case will be heard next year.<\/p>\n Get daily breaking news updates on your phone by joining our WhatsApp community here<\/a>. We occasionally treat members to special offers, promotions and ads from us and our partners. See our Privacy Notice<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andrew James convinced the couple to invest \u00a380,000 in a business with him, but all was not as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,82363,10156,1343,59,36040,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-187150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-carmarthen","tag-carmarthenshire","tag-courts","tag-gb","tag-south-west-wales","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}