A man who posed as a private investigator in an attempt to take money from the families of people who died abroad has been jailed for 10 years.
Simon Delow, also known as Simon De’Gresser, 48, from Gloucester, pleaded guilty to 10 counts of fraud by misrepresentation and was sentenced at Durham Crown Court on Friday (October 27).
Delow claimed his company could deploy teams of investigators to relevant countries and was hired by three grieving families to investigate the deaths of their children who died abroad.
Two of his victims were Ray and Pat Martin from Sutton-in-Ashfield, whose daughter Claire Martin died in Italy in March 2012.
Claire, 30, was found with multiple knife wounds to her neck outside the family home of her Italian fiance, 50 miles outside Naples.
Italian police investigated but officials later ruled Claire’s wounds were self-inflicted and officially recorded it as likely to be a suicide.
But Claire’s family, from Sutton-in-Ashfield, has always believed someone else was involved and some experts have since called for the death to be treated as murder and re-examined.
The family had also won support from Home Office pathologist Dr Stuart Hamilton, who said the Italian authorities need to take a second look at the evidence.
The investigation into Claire’s death is still ongoing.
Father Ray said: “It is very difficult to deal with the death of a child, especially in such circumstances.
“It was made even more difficult with the fact it happened in a foreign country, where it’s difficult to get information about the investigation and legal processes.
“The investigation into Claire’s death is still on-going and as you can imagine, it has been a very difficult time for us.
“Simon Delow took advantage of our vulnerability and offered to help.
“Little did we know the deceit, lies and despicable behaviour he would stoop to in order to try to obtain money from us.
“Our plight to find justice for Claire has been extremely stressful, frustrating and traumatic, and I feel that Delow tried to manipulate us in our extremely vulnerable position.”
The Martins did not part with money to Delow, but other victims outside of Notts did lose cash.
Detective Chief Inspector Karen Pearson said: “Delow took advantage of the vulnerability of the victims in this case in an attempt not to help them but to make money.
“His behaviour is inexcusable and I am pleased he has now been jailed.
“Even though the Martins did not part with any money he still took advantage of them at a hugely distressing time.”
