Racing conman Christopher Beek unable to pay back victims

Christopher Beek, who cheated racing punters out of more than £200,000, is financially unable to repay his victims despite his assertions to the contrary.

It was discovered at Warwick Crown Court on Friday that Beek, 36, only had assets of around £6,000, leaving him with a significant shortfall.

Beek conned four people over a three-year period and duped his victims into parting with their money. Even after giving them back some returns to keep them hooked, they are still owed £164,315.

The biggest loser was a farmer who was taken in by what Judge Andrew Lockhart QC described as "a bewildering cast of fictitious persons" and ended up losing £129,000.

After pleading guilty and being jailed for five years and ten months in April, Beek claimed he would be able to pay back his victims, but this proved to be another lie.

Beek used a string of false identities to cheat punters with scams including gambling syndicates and shares in racehorses.

Such was the depth of Beek's deception, he even posed as a private detective under the guise of helping them get their money back for a fee. At a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing on Friday his lies were exposed again.

Prosecutor Jabeen Akhtar said Beek's only assets from which compensation could be paid under the Act amounted to £6,089.95.

Of that figure, he had £6,057 in an Aviva pension plan on which it would be possible to get an early release, and a car on which there was equity of just £32.95.

Judge Lockhart ordered the £6,089.95 to be confiscated and paid by September 7, in default of which Beek will have to serve an additional five months in jail and would still have to pay the money.

Lockhart remarked to Beek's barrister Simon Worlock: "We remind ourselves that at one stage your client was offering to repay the whole amount. That gives us an insight into his level of dishonesty."

When involved in racing, Beek had winners in his silks as an owner and under Kachina Racing. He ran more than 20 horses in 2012 in his own name, all but one with Alastair Lidderdale.

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