A 20-stone balding lothario nicknamed 'Shrek' has been jailed for eight years for conning three women out of £70,000 in a romance scam.

World record-holding yachtsman Peter Berry, 51, befriended victims through online dating sites like Plenty of Fish before charming them out of their cash to fund his luxury lifestyle.

The silver-tongued conman was described by one detective as having a 'PhD in deception' in a career of crime that raked in £2m from hundreds of victims in the last 20 years.

The embarked on his latest crime spree after he was let out early from a five year jail term he received for 19 fraud offences at Truro Crown Court in 2010.

His previous victims include a lawyer, GP and fund manager and detectives believe he may have swindled up to £2m from more than 100 women during his career of crime.

Berry in his 2001 sailing heyday (
Image:
Lucy Duval/Plymouth herald)

Berry also persuaded girlfriends to lend him money through extravagant lies including needing to help friends trapped in the Himalayas.

He even used his elderly mother's identity to apply for loan applications and rack up debts on her cards.

As a yachtsman he set a new world record in May 2001, skippering the Netergy.com trimaran from Plymouth to La Rochelle, in France, 10 hours faster than anyone before him.

A year later, he helped smash his own record by sailing the route with the late American adventurer Steve Fossett on the entrepreneur's £8m PlayStation maxi-catamaran - the record still stands.

The former yachtsman was likened to the cartoon ogre 'Shrek' by one of his victims in the fraud case in 2010.

Peter Berry has been compared to Shrek from the film cartoon (
Image:
SWNS)

He was released on licence just two years later and quickly started where he had left off, fleecing three women between October 2012 and October 2013.

Berry remained at large for two years and police had appealed for information in 2014

after he was spotted in a London bar sporting a thick beard, talking in an Eastern European accent.

He was finally found by police living at a house with a wife in the New Forest in October 2015 - and she knew the crook as 'Jonathan Jones', jurors heard.

Berry was then returned to jail to serve out the remainder of his five year sentence.

His latest trial heard how he posed as a successful businessman, kayaker and Harvard University graduate to ensnare his latest victims following his release from jail in 2012.

Berry met women through his hobby as well as dating websites (
Image:
Plymouth Herald WS)

The Cornwall-born conman, who claimed he had to live in a tent after he was let out of prison, insisted the three women had all agreed to lend him cash.

Berry's latest ploy was to try and get his moved from Inner London Crown Court down to

Lewes Crown Court after complaining about the poor air quality in the capital.

He claimed he suffers from 'acute brittle asthma' which means the London air quality can cause him to fall sleep.

Berry wanted the trial moved to Sussex 'where the bracing South Downs air would keep him more alert' but the judge rejected his application.

He denied but was convicted of seven counts of fraud by false representation after a four day trial.

Berry is a keen kayaker - and uses the hobby to seduce women (
Image:
SWNS)

Jailing him for eight years the judge, Mr Recorder Julian Malins, QC, said: 'You have been convicted by a jury of seven counts of fraud on overwhelming evidence which without any great surprise satisfied so that they were sure that you are a confidence trickster and a crook.

'You have pleaded not guilty and told a pack of lies in the witness box.

'In the first case you were, on the 18 May 2010, on your own plea of guilty at Truro Crown Court sentenced to a period of imprisonment for no fewer than 19 dishonesty offences. Those offences took place between May 2004 and October 2009 which is over a sustained period and involved large sums of money.

'Within no time at all you are preying on women for the purposes of extracting money from them.

'I saw the witnesses, heard what they had to say. Each of these victims and they were very gutsy to come and give evidence, particularly the first one in light of what she had to say about you.

'There was a serious detrimental effect on them and a financial one because they had lost so much money, and particularly so their view of life and how they had been made fools of in being defrauded.'

Berry (bottom left) with Steve Fossett (top left) and the record-breaking crew (
Image:
Lucy Duval)

Berry used a series of aliases including Jay Smith, Dr James Smith, Taz Keady and Jonathon Jasper John, in his charades.

'He is a confidence trickster,' said Elizabeth Lowe, prosecuting.

'He creates over a period of time a credible story founded on no evidence at all.

'He encourages them to hand over money, he reassures them repeatedly they will their money back or they will get a great return.

'He goes by a number of different names to the different women.'

The convicted fraudster scammed Joanne Clifford out of £30,000 after meeting her on the matchmaking website Plenty of Fish in November 2012.

'This defendant was using the user name of Waterboy. He made contact with her using that dating website. Over a number of days they messaged each other followed by phone calls and text messages.

'They just met in Arundel in the middle of October. The defendant introduced himself as James Smith.

'He says he has a doctorate in engineering. He says he is building and designing a prototype for wind turbines.

'He said he sold his BMW to fund the project and tells her to keep the details secret.

Berry even appeared on Crimewatch as police hunted for him (
Image:
Sussex Police)

'Towards the end of October he telephoned her sounding stressed. He claimed there was a cock up at work and that he was in trouble and needed £200,000. He said he was struggling with the last £50,000.

'Ms Clifford was so convinced that she offered him money. He initially said no. The crown say that's an aspect of his tricks.

'He builds up confidence then went on to persuade her it was a smart investment. She ultimately handed over £20,000 in two tranches, on 24 and 25 October.

'The bank account is in the name of John Keady, which this defendant also goes by.

'They later spent a night away at a pub in Chislehurst, he gets her to pay for that night away. The next day they travel up to London and spend the day together.'

Ms Lowe said they went shopping in Covent Garden and he bought something at the Apple Store, then purchased a pair of sunglasses at another shop.

'On 12 November the defendant phoned up sounding stressed and suggesting he was struggling financial. She adds another £5,000 to what she has already supplied for his investment.

'A couple of weeks later on 29 November a further £10,000 goes from Joanne Clifford to the defendant after he told her he was going to have to lay off an employee and she asks what she could do to help.'

Peter Berry spent two years on the run from police (
Image:
Plymouth herald WS)

Ms Clifford contacted Berry a number of times and asked for her money back. She then discovered the 'con' when she was contacted by Sussex Police.

Lab technician Kate Peel met Berry through a kayaking club in November 2012 and knew him as Jason Smith, the court heard.

'After a couple more kayaking trips they began a romantic relationship,' said the prosecutor.

'She lives in London and she describes she had money she had inherited from an ex-partner who had sadly passed away.

'He told her he was a business consultant. He says he has a business opportunity in IT in Europe. He required commitment to this investment by the weekend. He would personally guarantee this investment and she would get back a 20 per cent return.

'She transferred into the Barclays account £15,000.

'He then says to her 'I just need a bit of extra money for my share of investment, can you please lend me £3,000.

'On 5 February she's in fact informed that this defendant is a convicted fraudster and she confronts him about that. They meet up at a train station and she asks for his explanation. He reassures her he gave her a version of events. He said the money was safe.'

Peter Berry was an international yachtsman who broke world records - and still holds one (
Image:
Lucy Duval/Plymouth herald)

Ms Peel gave Berry the benefit of the doubt and stayed in touch until November 2013, when she was approached by Sussex Police.

'She never got her money back,' said Ms Lowe.

Berry then fleeced neighbour Christine Gearing out of £15,000 after moving to a flat in East Preston, Sussex.

They started up a friendship and Berry said he was 'in a consortium of peer funding' where members could invest in a short term high interest loan.

Ms Gearing was invited to join and transferred £10,000 to Berry on 3 July, jurors heard.

Peter Berry has been locked up again - this time for eight years (
Image:
Plymouth Herald WS)

'In September he again asked for money from her in another deal of around £5,000 to £15,000' said Ms Lowe.

'He said to her he was in financial trouble. She wisely didn't give him anymore. She was contacted by police in November 2013,' she added.

Detectives have recently appealed for any more potential victims to come forward but believe women may be 'too embarrassed' to come forward.

Berry, from Brockenhurst, Hampshire, denied seven counts of fraud by false representation.

Who is Peter Berry?

Peter Berry was born in Callington in Cornwall on New Year's Eve 1965.

He claimed he went to school in Saltash, gaining up to 10 'O' levels then became an engineer after serving and apprenticeship in the naval dockyards.

As a yachtsman he set a new world record in May 2001, skippering the Netergy.com trimaran from Plymouth to La Rochelle, in France, 10 hours faster than anyone before him.

A year later, he helped smash his own record by sailing the route with the late American adventurer Steve Fossett on the entrepreneur's £8million PlayStation maxi-catamaran - the record still stands.

But the silver-tongued conman was described by one detective as having a 'PhD in deception' in a career of crime that raked in £2m from hundreds of victims in the last 20 years.

He looked like Shrek but that did not stop a succession of women from Britain, Europe and America, falling for him, after wooing them with tales of his endeavours on the high seas.

Victims Laura Hudson, left, and Sara Terry pictured in 2010 (
Image:
SWNS)

Berry used internet dating sites to ensnare victims including a lawyer, a GP and a fund manager, fleecing them out of their cash to fund his luxury lifestyle.

Detectives investigating his latest case raised his home in East Preston and found designer clothing, sporting equipment, underwater cameras and satnavs were seized from the rented flat, jurors heard.

A Volkswagen van with the personalised number plate 'K666 YAK' was parked outside and registered to Berry. It was also seized in the fraud investigation.

Berry was jailed for five years at Truro Crown Court in May 2010 after he admitted 19 offences of theft and fraud between 2004 and 2009.

He applied for Barclaycard and Morgan Stanley credit cards in his mother's name, Elizabeth Berry, then blew nearly £12,000 on them.

Berry also stole a NatWest MasterCard and Ryan Air Visa Card belonging to her racking up debts of more than £5,000 on them, then took out bank loan of £3,066 in her name.

Sara Terry, who Berry targeted almost a decade ago (
Image:
SWNS)

Berry met Mabel Arnhill at a canoe association in November 2007. He befriended her and told her in late December 2007 he had received an email from the wife of a friend.

He told Ms Arnhill he needed to raise £11,000 to fund a search and rescue operation as her husband had gone missing whilst climbing in the Himalayas.

Berry also bought a mobile phone and took out a phone contract in Ms Arnhill's name, paid for on an MBNA credit card. He ran up further transactions to the tune of £4,700 and said his computer had saved her details so he had paid for items 'accidentally'.

Berry told Katherine Holt he needed to raise £50,000 to build ski chalets. She lent him £1,000 which was never repaid.

Christopher Williams met Berry around 2003 at the Plymouth Pavillion where Mr Williams worked as a photographer.

Berry told Mr Williams around May 2007 about a French investment opportunity. Mr Williams handed over £8500 which was never paid back.

He met Helen Scott on an internet dating site in April 2009. They began a relationship and Berry told Ms Scott he had lost his wallet and owed money for a kayaking holiday in the Alps.

Ms Scott paid £600 into his bank account. The relationship ended but Ms Scott received a call from a man who said Berry had been injured while rescuing a couple on a kayaking holiday.

She invited him to stay over and within a few weeks the defendant said his car, clothes, wallet and laptop were stolen at a hospital appointment. He used her card to withdraw money from cash points.

Berry met Lorraine Cobb at the end of March 2009 on Facebook. He asked Ms Cobb if she would put her name on an iPhone contract for him as he was not on the electoral register.

He told her he would pay for it, but a direct debit was made from Ms Cobb's account in September and she called to cancel it.

She received a bill for £2,025 in cancellation fees from O2 but was never repaid any money from Berry.

Berry met Laura Hudson on an internet dating site. In October 2009 he said he was in serious financial difficulties and was owed money by a company which had gone bust.

He said he needed to pay a web provider £53,000 by the end of the week. Miss Hudson loaned Berry £2,000 and three days later a further £8,000 at his request.

Berry met Sara Terry, then a 42-year-old divorcee, throught a dating website called Fitness Singles in October 2008.

Laura Hudson was conned by Berry (
Image:
Plymouth herald WS)

Speaking after Berry was jailed for five years in 2010 she said she fell for his 'warm eyes' but said: 'He was 6ft 2in, weighed about 20 stone and looked like the cartoon character Shrek.'

Ms Terry allowed him to buy a kayak online using her credit card around November 2008. He returned the card to her but changed the PIN number.

Berry then intercepted her bank statements and ran up a bill of £9,647.

Ms Terry noticed her purse was missing in February 2009 but was told by Berry his friend had found the purse. He had in fact taken the purse and used the cards to spend £9,429.64.

In March 2009 Berry took out a bank loan of £15,000 in Ms Terry's name and purchased a Volkswagen van.

Berry was released on license on 5 September 2012 but an arrest warrant was issued in November 2013 after he failed to attend probation meetings with his supervisor in Cornwall.

Sara Terry helped get Berry locked up in 2010 (
Image:
Plymouth herald WS)

Berry remained at large for two years and police had appealed for information in 2014

after he was spotted in a London bar sporting a thick beard, talking in an Eastern European accent.

He was finally found by police living at a house with a wife in Brockenhurst in the New Forest in October 2015 - and she knew him as 'Jonathan Jones'.

Berry was then returned to jail to serve out the remainder of his five year sentence.

The three latest women victims

Berry met Joanne Clifford through dating website Plenty of Fish (
Image:
central news)

JOANNE CLIFFORD

Berry met Joanne Clifford through dating website Plenty of Fish in October 2012. They exchanged messages with him using the name 'Waterboy' and then spoke over the phone and via text message.

Berry told Ms Clifford he was called 'James Smith' also known as 'Jay'.

Ms Clifford, from Swindon, is a keen horse rider and owns several of her own horses.

Giving evidence, Ms Clifford said: 'He contacted me on a dating website, it was just general chit chat. He was quite interested I had horses. My picture was of me in the tack room.

'He told me his name as James Smith. He referred to himself as Jay.'

The pair met at a pub in Arundel in mid-October.

Although Berry 'didn't look like the photos he had posted online', an unsuspecting Ms Clifford agreed to carry on with the date.

She said: 'I thought he was very interesting. The things he talked about were very believable.'

Berry has charmed his way into dozens of people's bank accounts (
Image:
Plymouth herald WS)

Berry went on to tell her he had a doctorate in engineering and that he was building a designing a prototype for wind turbines, the court heard.

Ms Clifford said: 'He seemed intelligent. He said he owned his own business. He said he had a business partner and they were designing a product to generate energy through water'.

During a walk on the beach, Berry admired Ms Clifford's BMW and says he had sold his own car to help fund the project.

At the end of October Berry telephoned Ms Clifford 'sounding stressed' and said he was struggling to raise the last £50,000 of a £200,000 investment for his business.

She said: 'He said he was really really stressed. He just said he was so stressed by everything it was making him unwell. He didn't directly ask me for money but it came across in a way that made me want to help him.'

Although he initially refused money from Ms Clifford, he went on to persuade her it would be a smart investment.

Bank statements show money was transferred to Berry's Barclays account, then in the name of John Keady, a name he had changed to by deed poll.

She said Berry had never told her the name of the account, but had managed to make the payments using only a sort code and account number read out to her by the conman.

eter Berry pictued outside Truro Crown Court in 2010 (
Image:
Plymouth herald WS)

The pair spent a night together at a pub in Chiselhurst, which Ms Clifford paid for on the understanding that Berry would be arriving late but would 'pay next time'.

In the morning, the pair head to London and shop in Covent Garden.

Berry paid for a phone case in the Apple store for a 'colleague at work' in cash, and then visited a different shop to buy a pair of expensive sailing sunglasses.

Ms Clifford said Berry asked her to buy him a bottle of water before he reached the till to pay and although she saw him pay on card, she did not note the name on the card.

On 12 November, Berry called Ms Clifford and said he was struggling financially. She added another £5,000 to her investment and was reassured she will get the money back when the business succeeds.

On 29 November, Berry again phoned and said he was going to have to lay off a member of staff.

Ms Clifford said she 'asked what she could do to help' before transferring another £10,000 into the John Keady Barclays account.

The romance ended but Ms Clifford continued to stay in contact with Berry, seeking reassurance her investment would pay off, or that she would get her money back.

She was so convinced by Berry's story that at one point she enlisted his help with a problem she had with a stable yard owner.

Berry contacted the yard owner on the email 'waterboyatheart' to help her resolve a rent issue.

Ms Clifford said in November 2013 she received a letter from Sussex Police regarding the transfer of large sums of money into the defendant's account.

She sent text messages and was eventually called by Berry who said he had simply 'done something a bit naughty' with transferring money between accounts.

Ms Clifford said Berry asked her not to contact the police, but by this point she was already waiting for an officer to come over and speak to her.

She said she has not spoken to Berry since the last phone conversation in November 2013.

Kate Peel met Berry during a kayaking holiday (
Image:
central news)

KATE PEEL

Kate Peel is a laboratory technician from Tooting, south London, and has a doctorate in environmental science.

She met Berry during a kayaking holiday in November 2012 that they both attended with their respective clubs.

Miss Peel said Berry introduced himself as Jason Smith, also known as Jay. He told her he was a business consultant and that he had a PhD in physics from Harvard.

On the next kayaking trip, the two discovered they were booked onto the same course on 18 November.

Berry told Miss Peel he had already organised a hotel to stay at the night before, and invited her to stay with him there.

Giving evidence, she said: 'He introduced himself as Jay Smith. A while later he told me it was short for Jason. We kayaked together, we shared lifts, we chatted together we made plans together for routes and so on.

'On a trip a couple of weeks later we realised we were on the same course on 18 November.

'He had organised a hotel and he offered I could stay with him the night before.'

The pair began a romantic relationship and Miss Peel told Berry she had inherited around £20,000 from a boyfriend who had sadly passed away.

Miss Peel said Berry lived in a large rented detached house on the coast in Felpham, West Sussex. He told her he and his friend, Dave Reynolds, rented it out in the winter.

She said that after a few months the pair started to 'grow further apart'.

'We weren't quite so close. I started to worry about various things. Little things that didn't quite add up. I would consider it as more of a cooling off after an initial couple of months,' she said.

While Miss Peel was away doing field work in Norfolk for her employer, she received a phone call from Berry who told her he had a business opportunity in IT in Europe. He told her he would personally guarantee her money back plus a 20 per cent return.

'He said he knew I was looking for an investment. He said he knew a start-up company that was lookng for investors and that they needed to get something together by the end of the week', she said.

Miss Peel said although she was aware Berry was a consultant on a renewable energy project, this was not what she believed she was investing her money into.

She transferred £15,000 into the Barclays account, but was then asked if she could loan Berry £3,000 for his share of the investment. She believed he would pay back the money in six weeks.

He said he told her that it would be 'the more the better' to invest in the company.

'He gave the impression it was just a cash flow problem', Miss Peel told jurors.

She said: 'I know he was originally from Cornwall. He didn't talk about family very much or other friends. He said he was a business consultant previously then he worked for a company that did utility maintenance like washing machines.

'He told me about previous successes, that he hadn't north of money and luxury items. He would tell me he was sought after by people on various projects.'

In February, a friend told Miss Peel she recognised Berry and on 5 February he was confronted by the victim.

They met up at a train station and he told her the money was 'safe'.

Peter Berry's police mugshot after his arrest almost a decade ago (
Image:
Devon & Cornwall Police)

Miss Peel said: 'A friend of mine had recognised him from a different kayaking club from a Portsmouth. I spoke to him within a day or two afterwards. I didn't want to tell my friends they were worried about me as it was. I didn't want to tell them at that point.

'He was very apologetic, very quiet. He said that he thought it was in the past and hat he was trying to make amends. He said he had changed.'

Ms Lowe asked; 'Were you concerned about the fact there was £18,000 that had gone to him?'

'Yes', she replied, 'he assured me that that was still genuine that the business opportunity was still genuine and I would get the £3,000 very shortly and I would get the rest within a year.'

Miss Peel gave Berry the benefit of the doubt and stayed in touch until November 2013. On 7 November he tells her he is on a job delivering a yacht but is in a 'bad place mentally'.

She loses contact with him and goes to the police to report that he may be missing. She is then informed by Sussex Police he is being investigated for fraud.

Christine Gearing was a neighbour of Berry - who introduced himself as 'John Jones' (
Image:
central news)

CHRISTINA GEARING

The third victim Christine Gearing was a neighbour of Berry. They met in February 2013 when he moved to a flat in East Preston. He introduced himself to his neighbour as 'John Jones'.

The two were said to have started up a friendship - with Berry helping cover up Ms Gearing's car and other odd jobs she needed as she was not living full time in the UK at this point.

The court heard Ms Gearing had been working in the Middle East and was considering her move back to the UK and whether she would get a new job.

Giving evidence behind a screen, Ms Gearing said: 'I wasn't living in the U.K. at the time and I had a car and a bike and he would cover my car. He would cover it when I was away. If it wouldn't start when I got back he would give me a lift to the station and I would give him a lift sometimes. He had a key as I had a problem with my water tank and I was worried something might happen while I was away.'

Ms Gearing said Berry told her was 'in a consortium of peer funding' and in a 'core group' where someone would bring a business deal and all would invest a short term high interest loan.

She told Berry she had inherited money from the sale of her late mother's house.

On 3 July, Ms Gearing was invited to join in on on such business deal and transferred £10,000 to Berry, it was said.

She said: 'The beginning of it was very casual remarks. In a way that he would ask me because I had given up work in the Middle East I was looking at coming back to the UK looking at what to do, whether to get a job or start a business. I didn't reveal what I earned what what assets I had.

'He talked about an investment that was a short term investment it would have been a few months and anything from £10,000 to £50,000 to go in.

'I asked for details. He did show me some papers but didn't leave them with me. He said he would photocopy them for me but never did.

'It's difficult because he didn't leave it with me for very long. What I was trying to ascertain in a short space of time was whether it was valid. And it looked to be valid. It looked true.'

Ms Gearing paid £10,000 into the John Keady bank account in July 2013, with Berry 'alongside her telling her the details', it was said.

'In September he again asked for money from her in another deal of around £5,000- £15,000' said Ms Lowe.

She paid £5,000 for the 'shorter term' investment.

Ms Gearing said: 'He was pressuring me and I basically wanted him out my flat. He put me verbally under pressure trying to tell me 'you must do this now, you have to do this'. He said you have to do it today.'

Peter Berry during a previous court appearance (
Image:
SWNS)

Ms Gearing said Berry sat in the flat with her again as she transferred the money, several days before she left for a three week trip to Australia, which he was aware of.

She said: 'It was there I realised I had probably made two of the biggest mistakes of my life but I just thought I know where he lives, he's there, he's not going anywhere.'

Ms Gearing said she felt pressured to keep up the false pretence of a friendship with Berry in the hopes she would get her money back.

When he picked her up from the airport at the beginning of November 2013 he is said to have revealed to her he was in 'financial difficulty' as he had spent money on a house belonging to the peer funding group.

'She wisely didn't give him anymore. She was contacted by police in November 2013', said prosecutor Elizabeth Lowe.

Ms Gearing said she last heard from Berry around 10 or 11 November when she received texts from him saying he was in London trying to sort out the money.

'He said he was 'teetering on the brink',' she said.