Leeds fraudster who pretended to be man's boyfriend to swindle £177k told: 'You took everything'
He pretended to seriously ill and needing round-the-clock care
A conman who swindled more than £177,000 from a man whom he convinced was his boyfriend has been handed a lengthy jail sentence.
Joshua Teale spent more than three years draining cash from the unsuspecting victim, spinning lies that included the death of his mother and contracting Covid that required a private nurse.
In reality, the 30-year-old was spending the cash on gambling websites.
The victim, reading out his own impact statement at Leeds Crown Court this afternoon.
He said: “I put my life on hold for absolutely nothing. This individual even told me his mother was deceased but she is very much alive.
“He took everything from me. I gave up the best part of three years of my life to support him.
“I lived on the bare minimum so he could benefit.”
The man said he had to starve himself, live off little sleep and take out loans to keep up with Teale’s requests.
Prosecutor Jordan Millican said they met working at the Arla Foods factory in Leeds in 2018 and became friends, although the man said he never thought Teale was gay.
After Teale left the job without explanation, he later bumped into the man in the McDonald’s in Hunslet in 2020, and they swapped contact details.
But Teale messaged him the next morning saying bailiffs were coming to his house and he needed £4,000 to pay them off.
The man agreed and met him at Morrisons in Hunslet to give him the cash, then heard nothing from him for around a month.
Teale then contacted the man again, telling him his mother had died and he needed further financial help - around £1,900 a month. He even sent fake legal documents from a bogus law firm to bolster his claim, and the man agreed again.
Then in January 2022, the victim was left stunned when Teale contacted him and asked if he would be his boyfriend.
They talked every day by text and Teale “made the victim feel like they were in a relationship”, Mr Millican said.
Continuing to send him £1,900 a month, Teale ramped up his fraudulent stories, telling the man he was now in hospital in London with Covid and required a full-time nurse.
He continued to plead for more money, telling the man he was being moved to a Glasgow hospital, then Edinburgh.
However, the victim’s bank became suspicious and in May 2023, they spoke with the man as a safeguarding protocol and then called the police.
Teale, of Middlecroft Road, Belle Isle, was arrested and confessed he had a gambling problem, although he refused to answer questions during his police interview.
He then only admitted his guilt on the day he was due to stand trial, charged with a single count of fraud.
Teale has four previous convictions for 11 offences, including fraud.
Mitigating, Matthew Harding said Teale had not entered the guilty plea earlier for “fear of the consequences”.
He said he has a “long-standing” gambling addiction but said it was not an excuse for his behaviour, describing it as a “mean offence”.
He also said Teale did not minimise his actions and knew the harm he had caused.
He added: “He knows he will go into custody today.”
The court heard that Teale had a 16-year gambling addiction, starting with scratch cards that progressed to slot machines.
The judge, Recorder Richard Paige, said the crime showed “significant planning” and was a “sustained deception”.
He said: “You have left him in serious financial difficulty and emotional turmoil.”
He jailed him for five years and three months.
He was given a lifelong restraining order to keep him away.