Office fan 'foiled fraud'
Gervais targeted by gang, court told
The gang who tried to scam nearly £200,000 from Ricky Gervais were rumbled when a fan of The Office became suspicious of their bad impersonation of him, a court has heard.
And when they forged his passport, they allegedly used the picture of him as David Brent from the cover of the sitcom’s DVD.
Gold bullion dealer Anthony Baird became suspicious when a man called claiming to be Gervais tried to buy 27kg of gold and called police, who pounced when couriers arrived to collect the bullion.
Prosecutor John Dodd told the jury: “Mr Baird was something of a fan of Mr Gervais. It was as a result of his suspicions that the police were alerted to this attempted fraud as it was unfolding.”
And of the passport, he added: "I'm told if you look at that photograph and you have the DVD of The Office you'll see a remarkable similarity,
London’s Wood Green Crown Court heard that the group had targeted Gervais, and two other victims, with the help of a telephone banking centre worker. The £127,000 of gold allegedly stolen using funds from the other victims has neve been recovered.
All five defendants - Sharonjeet Snober, Kenneth Speight, Mushtaq Javed, Craig Reeves and Harry Peach - deny three counts of conspiracy to defraud in the ongoing trial.
Published: 2 Mar 2005
