Latest news with #JackWatkin
Times
20 hours ago
- Business
- Times
How I was duped by Jack Watkin, the luxury handbag fraudster
Jack Watkin was the last person Christine Colbert expected to walk into Dress Cheshire, her vintage clothing boutique, and inspect a black Hermès Birkin bag. 'I spoke to him by email and assumed he was in his forties,' she said. 'I was shocked when this 21-year-old came in wanting to buy a £35,000 bag in matt crocodile but he was very knowledgeable about the luxury industry. It was all, 'Darling, darling' … He was flamboyant and charming.' Within months of that meeting in October 2020, Watkin charmed Colbert into a business venture. He promised to source and resell Hermès bags while giving her 'a financial return plus a share of the profits'. She placed her trust in him. Watkin, who initially used the alias Jack Holding, pretended he was a millionaire and portrayed a glamorous life.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Automotive
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE 'Rich Kid of Instagram' handbag swindler exposed as a paedophile: Branded the 'Kardashian of Cheshire', he lived a crime-fuelled millionaire lifestyle. Then a boutique owner brought him down...
Slouching down in the seat of her car, Christine Colbert hid her face beneath a wide-brimmed hat and a pair of oversized sunglasses. Owed tens of thousands of pounds by one-time 'friend' and would-be business partner Jack Watkin, the time had come to spring her carefully planned trap.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Moment 'rich kid influencer' with Versace crockery arrested for £200k fraud
Witness the moment a 'deluded rich kid influencer' was nicked for conning over £200,000 to bankroll his dream Instagram influencer lifestyle. Jack Watkin, 26, exploited the allure of the designer handbag brand Hermes as a ploy to coax people into parting with their cash to sustain his lavish lifestyle, a court was told. The phoney millionaire assured his victims that he had contacts who could secure access to the handbags and that they could share the profits from resale, a crown court heard. Read more: 'Stressed' drug dealer caused carnage However, when they never received a bag or any financial return on their investment, they demanded their money back - but he always had excuses at the ready. Watkin, previously of Wilmslow Road, Alderley Edge, showed up at Chester Crown Court where he admitted to eight counts of fraud by false representation. Detective Constable Gareth Yates, of Cheshire Constabulary Economic Crime Unit stated: "Watkin's deluded himself that he was a successful rich kid influencer. "But in reality, he was nicking money from well-off individuals under the pretence of 'business opportunities' to fund his pricey penchant for fast cars, luxury goods, including Versace crockery, and designer footwear and clothing. "Watkin's victims were left out of pocket by thousands and for some, their reputation took a hit when deals couldn't be honoured due to Watkin's criminal venture. "It was never going to end well, and his downfall was inevitable. "Eventually his lies caught up with him and he is now facing the consequences of his deceit, and his perversions." Hermes handbags aren't items you can just pick up from a shop; an exclusive invite is needed to snap up this luxury good – making it not just a fashion statement but an investment as resale values often exceed original prices. Watkin conned a woman into parting with thousands under the guise of investing in these coveted Hermes bags, when in reality her money was squandered on lavish expenses at the Dorchester Hotel in London, according to what was heard in court. The woman was left bagless and profitless from their supposed shared venture in the high-end resale market. Becoming wary of Watkin's never-ending excuses, she reported the vanished funds to the Metropolitan Police back in 2022. Her case was transferred to the sharp-eyed squad of Cheshire Constabulary's Economic Crime Unit, prompting a thorough probe. Their diligent efforts revealed a pattern of victims and a lavish lifestyle filled with luxury items and extravagant hotel stays, all funded through Watkin's deception of six individuals. Amid the investigation, officers also stumbled upon indecent imagery stored on Watkin's phone. Previously, Watkin was convicted for holding indecent images, extreme pornography, and prohibited pictures. He remains behind bars, awaiting his sentence for both the fraud and indecent image charges. The judgment day is penned for Wednesday September 3 at Chester Crown Court.
The Independent
4 days ago
- The Independent
Self-proclaimed ‘Kardashian of Cheshire' fraudster brags about wealth in documentary
Jack Watkin, 26, who previously featured in a Rich Kids of Instagram documentary, defrauded businesses and individuals of over £200,000. Watkin committed fraud by falsely claiming he had contacts for exclusive Hermes handbags and would split resale profits, spending the illicit gains at Harrods and the Dorchester hotel. He pleaded guilty to eight counts of fraud by false representation at Chester Crown Court on Tuesday. Watkin was also convicted earlier in 2025 of nine offences related to indecent images and is scheduled to be sentenced for both the fraud and indecent images offences on 3 September. Watch the video in full above.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Daily Mail
Boutique owner who was scammed by the 'Kardashian of Cheshire' reveals how she 'turned Miss Marple' to catch con man
A boutique owner who was scammed by self-proclaimed 'rich kid of Instagram ' Jack Watkin today described how she 'turned Miss Marple' to catch the con man. Christine Colbert, 58, had already spent three years trying to get back almost £44,000 she had loaned the 26-year-old when she decided to take matters into her own hands. With the help of Watkin's close friend, Hannah Jakes, 34, who was also defrauded of almost £100,000, the pair lured the fake millionaire, who was on the run from police, to a local pub with the promise of more cash. Speaking after the former public schoolboy was convicted of the £200,000 fraud today, Ms Colbert revealed how she wore a 'large hat' as a disguise and hid in someone else's car in the car park of The Merlin public house, in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, so he would not recognise her. But as soon as the unsuspecting Watkin arrived Mrs Colbert swung into action and dialled 999. Minutes later detectives from Cheshire police swooped to arrest him. 'Myself and another victim did go on quite a lone detective journey ourselves to bring our own evidence,' she said. 'There's one thing Jack wants and that's money. We just knew that if we could get him to a meeting, probably rooted in another financial deal, we could pinpoint a place. 'I knew Cheshire police didn't know where he was, so we did pinpoint a place and lured him to that spot and I dialled 999.' She joked: 'He wasn't too pleased to see who was under the hat. I needed him to know it was me because I'd told him if he didn't pay me back I would come out on this. 'He worked on the basis that people were too embarrassed or wealthy enough to write it off and I didn't fall into those categories.' Ms Colbert said she felt 'hugely betrayed' by Watkin, who befriended her in September 2020 and became a regular visitor to her shop, Dress Cheshire, in Prestbury. She said he was 'extremely knowledgeable' about the luxury good market and persuaded her, and five other victims, to hand over large sums of money, on the promise that he could source exclusive Hermes handbags and sell them in return for a share of the profits. But neither the handbags or the profits ever materialised and instead Watkin used the cash to fund his own lavish lifestyle. Ms Colbert said: 'Jack was an extremely believable person. His depth of knowledge of the luxury goods industry was quite staggering. 'I was very much convinced by his lifestyle, which I could see on social media. To be fair, he was living that lifestyle, it just happened to be on everybody else's money. 'He was rubbing shoulders with significant high net worth individuals, people of substance, people were following him (on Instagram). 'These were significant people in the arena of luxury goods, respected people. So, there was nothing not to believe. 'It was a very credible story. And he looked and spoke the part.' Ms Colbert said that initially she was embarrassed that she had been scammed and hid it from her family. But eventually she 'lost patience' and, in March last year, put up a post on Instagram warning others that Watkin was a fraudster. The post was spotted by Ms Jakes, who had been a friend of Watkin's for more than a decade and had also been duped by him, who agreed to help catch him. But Ms Colbert said it was 'gut-wrenching' when police told her that 'charming' Watkin, who she trusted and considered a friend, had been using her cash to pay for his own extravagance. At one stage he spent weeks living at the five-star Dorchester Hotel, in London's Mayfair, where rooms cost up to £3,000-a-night. Police said his bill topped £136,000 in just 18 months. He also paid more than £22,000 to travel around the capital in a chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce and regularly visited Harrods, where he 'scouted' for victims and spent almost £68,000. 'This was a very charming individual,' Ms Colbert added. 'He's not aggressive. It almost got to the point where I felt like I was dancing around him to try and get him to talk about what he owed me. 'I don't think he's worked a day in his life. It's a fantasy world that he lives in (where) he thinks it's okay to live off other people's money. 'But this level of fraud against anybody is just unacceptable and I wasn't prepared to stand back.' Detective Constable Gareth Yates said Watkin had been declared bankrupt and the chances of Ms Colbert or any other victims getting their money back was slim. He also said there may be other people out there who had been conned that had not yet come forward, so their investigation remained ongoing. 'We will try and obtain any assets, but ultimately early indications would suggest that Watkin is an individual with a life built on social media, a life built on sand, and he has no assets to his name.' Watkin is due to be sentenced in September.
