Fraudster loses court appeal

Habitual trickster Christopher Paul Fallon took advantage of the relaxed regime at Ford to carry out brazen frauds on his fellow jailbirds.

He was serving a sentence for a similar fraud at the open jail, and was subject to a massive 638,000 confiscation order at the time, London's Appeal Court heard. Fallon (43) of Fairmile Court, Cobham, Surrey, held himself out to inmates as a trustworthy financial adviser and persuaded them and their loved ones to hand over 162,000 by promising high returns on property schemes. But on occasional day trips he used to visit local towns and open bank accounts for his scams.

He was jailed for five years at Chichester Crown Court in March after he was convicted of 18 counts of obtaining a money transfer by deception. That sentence was consecutive to the term of five and a half years he was already serving.

His case reached London's Appeal Court as he sought permission to challenge his sentence - but without success.