A scheming couple defrauded a man out of his life savings which he had set aside to be used as inheritance for his children.

Sam Pilkington, 31, and Neringa Kievisaite, 42, took more than £50,000 from David Marsden through various fraudulent transactions between May 1, 2018, and May 30, 2019.

Pilkington and Kievisaite were in a relationship at the time but are no longer together.

Mr Marsden, who had £56,875.50 taken from him, said he had not been left “destitute,” but it had “wiped out the majority of the money set aside as inheritance for my children.”

Prosecuting, Megan Horner said the offending began in May 2018 when Mr Marsden purchased a Sonos speaker from Pilkington over eBay.

Due to their close proximity, Pilkington went to Mr Marsden’s house to drop the speaker off.

Mr Marsden paid £250 in cash for the speaker and was told by Pilkington he could get him other electrical goods for a good price, including an OLED television Mr Marsden was interested in.

Ms Horner says it was at this point Mr Marsden was “sucked into fraud” on the promise he would receive the items if he paid in advance.

In order to obtain the television, Pilkington asked for a deposit of £250, which Mr Marsden paid, and when he said he was at the warehouse in London, he said he was short of cash and asked to borrow a further £2,000, promising three televisions in return, which was paid by Mr Marsden.

A few days later, Pilkington called again to say he could not fit all the items in the van and needed a container, for which Mr Marsden sent another £1,000, and he then sent a further £1,000 when Pilkington told him that container was too small and he needed a bigger one.

No goods arrived and no money was ever repaid as promised.

A few days later, Pilkington called Mr Marsden again saying he had £140,000 in a Western Union bank account, but needed a release fee of £1,000 to access the money, which Mr Marsden paid.

Pilkington then told him he had sent the money directly to his bank account but had got the details wrong, thus needing to re-send it and costing another £1,000.

Shortly after, a person purporting to be from Western Union emailed Mr Marsden telling him his bank account payment was blocked and asked him to provide details for another account, requiring a new bank fee of £1,000, which was paid.

After this, Kievisaite began to messaged Mr Marsden on WhatsApp, telling him that Pilkington was actually in prison and she would try to resolve the issues on his behalf.

She said another person would have to be involved to resolve the issue, a man named John Marsden who purportedly worked for Western Union.

Mr Marsden received an email from the fake Mr John Marsden asking for £1,900 on the basis he would then receive the funds into his account, which was paid.

By late 2018, a man claiming to be from the Financial Conduct Authority called Martin Tyler contacted Marsden telling him the way to resolve the issue with Western Union was to pay yet another fee and they would deal with it on his behalf.

He was then contacted again by Mr Tyler saying the fee had not come through in time and he would have to pay again, or be fined £2,500 every two days.

Whilst this was happening, Pilkington himself was in contact with Mr Marsden making promises to repay the money he owed.

Eventually, Mr Marsden stopped paying out the money and contacted Action Fraud in February 2020.

Bank details from Kievisaite’s account show more than £40,000 of the money passed through her.

A series of WhatsApp chats discovered also show she clearly knew about Pilkington’s actions.

In a victim personal statement read to the court by Ms Horner, Mr Marsden said: “I cannot believe I could not see what Sam was doing and it went on for so long.

"I was chasing the money I lost by giving him more and more money.

“Deep in my heart I knew he had no intention of ever paying me back and by reporting it to the police I hope I can prevent other people going through what I did.

“I’ve never come across anyone capable of telling such elaborate and persistent lies and I hope I never come across someone like that again.”

Pilkington, has past convictions for fraud by false representation in June 2018, while this offending was going on, while Kievisaite was of previous good character.

Mitigating for Pilkington, Richard English said this was a “sad state of affairs” and an “awful thing to have done.”

He said: “He is ashamed of himself. He appreciates what he did was disgraceful.”

Jonathan Turner, for Kievisaite, said she fell into a relationship with Pilkington and was no longer with him or had anything to do with him.

Sentencing, Judge Guy Mathieson said: “The problem for both of you in this case is it’s not just about you.

"It is all too easy to forget the victim. A life well lived since this fraud cannot erase or excuse the harm done to Mr Marsden.

“I’ve no doubt that fraud would have continued until Mr Marsden had absolutely nothing left had he not contacted the police.

"In a way that helped you because it made you stop. But you would have carried on.

“What is clear is Mr Marsden became a soft touch for you, and you came up with increasingly elaborate ways to con and coerce him out of his life savings.

“He is of a generation who still believe in helping others. You twisted that trust and good nature into something he now feel shame and guilty about.

“He may never recover from the emotional damage done and can certainly never recover from the financial loss.”

Kievisaite, of Rothesay Road, Blackburn, was sentenced to six months in prison suspended for 18 months, with 200 hours unpaid work and 10 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

Pilkington, of Casserley Road, Colne, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison.