A fraudster who claimed he helped put former TV star Michael Barrymore in touch with the spirit world has been jailed for three years. Craig Shell obtained goods worth £74,000 by posing as a businessman and tried to get hold of another stash worth £108,000 in a year-long scam. He told one company he duped that he had top connections in the media, royalty and Parliament, said prosecutor Nicolas Cartwright. advertisement He also maintained he worked with West Mercia Police as a medium and was employed on a TV programme called Most Haunted. Shell approached Redditch Spiritualist Church to run their raffle with the first prize a £500 trip to Paris. But the raffle was just another con trick dreamed up by the 22-year-old to make himself feel important, Hereford Crown Court heard. Shell, of Comberton Road, Kidderminster, pleaded guilty to nine counts of deception, theft and fraud and asked for 18 similar counts to be taken into consideration. Judge David McEvoy QC said he had shown no remorse for a calculated course of conduct which he embarked on to gain respect. His victims included a vending machine firm which let him take out a lease hire agreement after he supplied bogus banking details, said Mr Cartwright. He told a design company he was a TV medium and offered a discount store in Bromsgrove goods before trying to steal toiletries worth £25,000 from another firm. Shell congratulated the winner of the church raffle at a social event, but the Paris trip never materialised.
Instead, he pocketed the ticket money. His police record showed deception offences stretching back seven years. His fake identities included posing as a managing director and a clairvoyant. Shell, who had worked as a chef and a care assistant, suffered from a personality disorder, said Abigail Nixon, defending. One of four psychiatrists who examined him claimed he was untreatable. He had low self-esteem due to cruel treatment as a child and had blocked out emotional issues with painkillers.
