A FRAUDSTER has been jailed for 12 months after he conned a vulnerable man out of £11,000.

Former Flamingo Land worker Mark Fields, 33, asked John Carr for money on five occasions and told him it was to help pay off his debts.

Fields, of Nursery Way, Norton, was in fact spending some of the cash on a new television for his family and days out for his children.

York Crown Court heard he knew that Mr Carr, a retired man in his 60s, had learning difficulties as they had worked together at the theme park.

Jailing him for 12 months, Judge Deborah Sherwin said: “This is a particularly unpleasant series of offending. By your guilty pleas it’s accepted that at that time you had no intention of re-paying the money.”

Martin Robertshaw, prosecuting, said: “On the morning of February 10 this defendant went to Mr Carr’s home address - something he had never done before - and asked if he could borrow some money.

“It was agreed £2,000 would be paid to the defendant.

“He was able to see Mr Carr’s bank statements and could see how much was in his account.

“They went to the bank in Pickering and £2,000 was withdrawn and handed to the defendant.”

York Press:

Fields, who pleaded guilty to six counts of fraud, saw Mr Carr in Pickering two days later and asked for more cash.

He agreed to go back to the bank and took out £3,000 for Fields, who promised to pay back the money when he could.

Fields repeatedly asked Mr Carr for money, gaining £1,000 on each of February 19 and 22 then £4,000 a day later when he turned up at Mr Carr's home and went with him to Malton, where £1,000 was taken from the joint account Mr Carr shared with his brother. Mr Carr later withdrew a further £3,000 for Fields.

The fraudster was caught when Mr Carr’s brother noticed £1,000 had been taken from the joint account. His brother told him what had happened and police were called.

Fields told officers he had accepted the money, but did not believe he was being dishonest because he intended to repay Mr Carr.

David Camidge, defending Fields, said: “He is very deeply ashamed of his actions and feels disgusted about what has happened.”

Mr Camidge said Fields had a pension pot of £15,000 and would use that to re-pay Mr Carr.