Fraudster who posed as multi-millionaire to scam thousands of pounds and impress girlfriend faces jail

A self-confessed ‘compulsive liar’ is facing jail after conning firms out of thousands of pounds while posing as a multi-millionaire to impress his girlfriend.

Christopher Bellisario-Villaweaver, 31, downloaded pictures of offshore bank accounts from the internet and used them to support his £635,000 offer on a Georgian house.

The Walter Mitty-style conman told estate agents he had a trust fund set up by his parents, but investigations revealed he had not spoken to his father for 18 years and did not have the cash.

He also told small businesses he was a qualified bailiff, before collecting £15,503 from debtors – then pocketing it for himself.

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The court heard Bellisario-Villaweaver outbid other offers for a posh town house in St George’s Square, Worcester in March 2014.

To back up his claim he downloaded pictures of two offshore bank balances from Google, one showing £2.3million and another with £1.4million.

Prosecutor Daniel White said: “He said later he had done it to impress his girlfriend by making her think he was wealthy.”

He also advertised on the internet as an authorised debt collector and had business cards printed under the name Corporate Collections UK Ltd. Several small businesses responded and arranged for him to collect debts worth hundreds of pounds.

Bellisario-Villaweaver called at one debtor’s home claiming to be a court-approved bailiff. He negotiated for payment to be made to him in cash, but did not pass it on to the businesses he was representing.

On one occasion he was employed by a firm to track down a boat which had been sold and moved to a marina in Evesham, Worcs. After finding the vessel, he then claimed it was his before selling it for £2,000.

In a separate incident, Bellisario-Villaweaver took £30 sponsorship from two households for a British Heart Foundation charity bike ride, but pocketed the cash without doing the cycle.

He also scammed flat hunters by putting an online advert for a property for rent in Goldsmith Road, Worcester, that he was not the landlord for. Four people turned up to view it and he took £200 off each of them for a supposed deposit to secure the property.

Bellisario-Villaweaver, of Worcester, admitted 16 charges including fraud by false representation and making false documents. He also asked for 27 other offences to be taken into consideration.

Judith Kenney, defending, said: “His mind is wired in a different way. He calls himself a compulsive liar. He wants to be someone else.”

She urged Judge Nicolas Cartwright not to “simply throw away the key” as Bellisario-Villaweaver was looking to draw a line under his offending and be a better person. The judge said it was “a complex case” and adjourned sentence until Monday.

Bellisario-Villaweaver has form: he was jailed for 150 days in 2010 after making up threats to blow up Worcester Crown Court.

He sent a Tweet on April 12 in 2010, which said: “Just decided that a chlorine bomb in a courtroom is by far the best idea so far.”

Police raided his home where they found plans of the court marked with the words “chlorine bomb”, although no explosives were discovered.

Bellisario-Villaweaver also made threats to blow up Worcester Police Station.