Victim of Porsche fraudster John Hawkins speaks out

Among those he cheated out of tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds were people who had hoped to fund their retirement by buying Porsches as investments.

Several of the dozens of people defrauded by the former owner of Specialist Cars of Malton were at Bradford Crown Court to see him jailed for five years and three months.

They heard how he had used several different methods of fraud and abused the trust people placed in his company because of the reputation it had built up to steal £1.5 million from 45 to 50 people.

“The John Hawkins of this world – they think they can get away with this sort of business plan,” said Paul Blacklock. “This shows they cannot. There are consequences.  A lot of people have suffered through this.”

“I’ve known Hawkins for 25 years,” said Mr Blacklock. “I feel totally let down, totally let down. People you trusted in business to do a honest job, then plotted to do exactly the opposite, to defraud you and use you. He never had any intention of paying anyone back. It’s not good business.”

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Defence barrister Susannah Proctor told the court among the victims were those who could absorb the loss of £100,000 because they were wealthy. The court heard of one victim who had several Porsches for sale by Specialist Cars of Malton and lived in Hong Kong.

But the court also heard from one victim who said he had bought his Porsche to produce a pension pot for himself and his wife as they approached retirement age and they had lost all they had worked for.

Those in the public gallery confirmed to The Press outside that other victims of Hawkins had also bought Porsches to fund their retirements.

North Yorkshire Police fraud investigator Constable Emma Harris said: “In order to maintain the façade of a successful business, Hawkins lied to customers time and time again, and falsified documents to give credence to those lies.

“The financial and emotional impact on his victims has been nothing short of devastating, and it is right that he now faces a lengthy prison sentence.”