A Radcliffe man has been sentenced to four years and eight months imprisonment after stealing post in Nottinghamshire.
Kevin Castle, 56, of Birkin Avenue has been jailed for taking out credit cards in other peoples’ names to fund a fraudulence lifestyle.
Police estimate the man could have up to netted up to £100,000 in cash and goods in at least 42 offences he admitted to.
The man is said to have targeted rural addresses across the county with letterboxes located away from their properties.
Nottinghamshire Police believe many as 130 victims in a string of incidents between July 2020 and August 2021.
Castle would take the letters to apply for and use credit cards that his victims had no knowledge of.
One such credit card had a £8,000 balance of fraudulence transactions, while another totalled over £3,000.
Among the victims, one woman – suspicious of someone tampering with her mail – hid in her bushes to confront the fraudster.
Another man caught Castle attempting to extract mail from a letterbox and passed on his number plate to the police, who later arrested him in April 2021.
Castle was released, but went on to continue the scams until he was arrested again in November 2021.
Police found mobile phones in his Radcliffe on Trent property that indicated he had used over 100 sim cards to register for various cards in his victims’ names.
Castle is notorious for his crimes and had been convicted for multiple similar offences in the past decade and had been found guilty in 2012, 2014 and 2017.
Castle pleaded guilty to nine separate counts of fraud by false representation and one count of theft.
Judge Godsmark QC told Castle: “You commit fraud at every available opportunity to do so. You are a professional fraudster.”
Castle must serve half of his sentence as minimum before he is eligible for release.
Nottinghamshire Police’s Detective Sergeant Marc Lancaster said: “This whole operation run by Castle was targeted, pre-planned and calculated fraud committed against victims who had no idea he was using their identity to apply for credit cards.
“He not only targeted one person but continued with his fraudulent behaviour for months and in an effort to evade being seen or traced would drive away quickly with his car boot open – showing just how planned his behaviour truly was.
“This type of offending is extremely personal in nature and causes significant amounts of distress to the victims not just financially but emotionally, often leaving the victims feeling completely betrayed.
“Thanks to the help of his victims, post office workers and our officers we were able to gain so much evidence to haul Castle up in front of the courts and I’m so pleased with the outcome that will see him now serve time behind bars for his actions.
“Fraud can have a truly devastating impact on its victims and Nottinghamshire Police will not tolerate this kind of offending and I hope this case shows just how serious we take any reports of fraud made to us and how much work we put into a case to bring the offender to justice.”
