CHEATER ESCAPES JAIL FOR FUNERAL SWINDLE

He told girlfriend mum was dead

- By ADAM EVERETT

A ROMANCE fraudster falsely told his girlfriend that his mum was dead as he swindled her out of more than £15,000.

Andrew New claimed that he needed his partner's cash in order to arrange his mother's funeral, despite her remaining alive and well to this day.

She also transferred him money to enable him to buy Champions League final tickets on the empty promise that he would pay her back. But the “born again Christian”, who previously found himself in the dock after scamming a woman who he met on dating website Plenty of Fish, was spared an immediate prison sentence due to his case taking years to come to court.

Liverpool Crown Court heard on Thursday that New, from the Wirral, had been in a relationship with Sarah Haslam between April and June 2022.

During this time, the 36-year-old made repeated requests for her to transfer money into his bank account, as well a friend’s and his “Uncle Joe’, for a “variety of fabricated reasons”.