Anglesey crossbow murder victim scammer admits £200k con

Richard Wyn Lewis will be sentenced on Friday

A scammer has pleaded guilty to taking thousands of pounds from a 74-year-old who was later murdered with a crossbow.

Richard Wyn Lewis, 51, of Llanfair-yn-Neubwll, Anglesey, was accused of defrauding Gerald Corrigan, and his partner Marie Bailey out of £200,000.

He claimed the money was for land sales, property development and horses.

After denying 11 counts of fraud and one count of intending to pervert the course of justice, he has now entered guilty pleas to four counts of fraud.

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Lewis's partner Siwan Maclean, 53, of the same address, denied one charge of entering into a money laundering arrangement.

But Peter Rouck KC said the prosecution would be offering no evidence on this and the jury was directed to return a not guilty verdict.

The jury was discharged from reaching verdicts on Lewis's remaining seven counts and it was marked for court records.

Unrelated to the fraud, Mr Corrigan was killed with a crossbow outside his Anglesey home in 2019.

Gerald Corrigan and his partner Marie Bailey gave £200,000 to Mr Lewis, a court heard

'A fraudster'

Opening the trial on Tuesday, Mr Rouch described Lewis as a conman and fraudster.

The court heard that Mr Corrigan and Ms Bailey had given an estimated £220,000 to Lewis and before his death Mr Corrigan was alleged to have told him: "There is no more money."

The court previously heard Lewis was accused of conning a number of people out of money between 2015 and 2020, but became involved with the pair in 2015.

"Both came to regard him as a good and trusted friend, not recognising the fraudster that he was," Mr Rouch said.

The court heard the first false representation made by Lewis to the couple concerned the "apparent potential development and apparent potential sale" of their home.

He said Mr Lewis persuaded Mr Corrigan he could sell their home to a developer for more than £2m, allowing him to buy somewhere more suitable for Ms Bailey, who has multiple sclerosis.

The court heard Lewis told Mr Corrigan he had a potential buyer, had enlisted the help of a retired planning officer and advised him to set up an off-shore bank account which £120,000 was apparently needed for.

Ms Bailey urged Mr Corrigan not to give money to Mr Lewis, a court heard

'He took advantage of us'

On Wednesday, Ms Bailey previously told the court Lewis "isolated" her husband and took cash from them.

They believed these payments were related to the development and sale of their home, Gof Du, as well as for horses.

Ms Bailey said she and her husband "didn't even know if these horses existed".

Payments, sometimes made in a Llangefni car park, included money for planning applications for their property to be developed into a campsite and sold.

She said Lewis "took advantage of us both".

Lewis will be sentenced on Friday.