By SOPHIA STANFORD, NEWS REPORTER
Published: | Updated:
A career swindler dubbed the 'Lord of Fraud' has admitted multiple child sexual abuse offences.
Self-styled peer Hugh Rodley, who has been convicted of two multi-million pound scams, pleaded guilty to six counts of making indecent images of children and one of possessing indecent images of children at Cheltenham Magistrates' Court today.
The 79-year-old had been arrested last December for unrelated alleged offences when investigators found a Hewlett Packard laptop which contained 198 indecent images, including 19 at category A, 12 at category B and 167 at category C.
The fake lord, whose aristocratic pretensions were based on a manorial title, had also searched at least 806 times on his laptop for paedophilic content.
The conman became infamous for attempting to steal £229million from a Japanese bank in one of the biggest ever cyber crimes of its kind, for which he was sentenced to eight years behind bars in 2009.
In 2012, Rodley was given an additional seven years behind bars after being convicted of conning more than 700 pensioners out of £6million with the promise of 'rich rewards'.
In June 2016, he was sentenced to a further seven years in prison after failing to repay more than £1.2million.
After National Crime Agency (NCA) officers arrested him at his home in Ballandine Crescent, Stoke Orchard, last year, he was released on bail.
'Lord of Fraud' Hugh Rodley has admitted multiple child sexual abuse offences
The conman became infamous for attempting to steal £229million from a Japanese bank in one of the biggest ever cyber crimes of its kind
The fake lord, whose aristocratic pretensions were based on a manorial title, will return to court for sentencing in November and has been released on bail (pictured: previous mugshot)
He was re-arrested a month later when he claimed he did not have a mobile phone. Officers searched his property and found an iPhone which contained further indecent material.
Examination showed he used the phone almost immediately after being bailed to continue searching for further child sexual abuse content.
The phone contained 295 indecent images of children – five at category A, 13 category B images and 277 category C images.
Rodley, who was born plain Brian McGough in Ireland in 1947, will return to court for sentencing in November and has been released on bail.
NCA senior investigating officer Andy Lawton said: 'Protecting children from sexual abuse is a priority for the National Crime Agency.
'Rodley can now add helping fuel the sickening trade in child sexual abuse to his list of offences.
'Behind each of these images is a vulnerable child who has been exploited to gratify the depraved desires of paedophiles.'
In his first scam, Rodley targeted the elderly and sold them worthless shares.
His gang drew up 'sucker lists' of people they planned to exploit and splashed their criminal fortune on flash cars, including an Aston Martin, Range Rover S3 and a Lotus Elise.
One 87-year-old man lost more than £800,000 to the fraudsters.
Victims were told they would quickly make 'handsome profits' when the companies were floated on the Alternative Investment Market.
But most people had little or no contact with the fraudsters afterwards after signing a contract setting out the amount of shares they had agreed to.
At the heart of the scam was a 'floor book' – a list of over 1,000 investors, of whom 600 handed over cash to the fraudsters.
The plan to plunder Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation in 2004 failed at the last minute after the scammers inputted the wrong codes.