'Con victims' lost £700,000

MULTIPLE sclerosis sufferer William McIntyre allegedly conned 19 people out of a total of more than £700,000, a jury at Truro Crown Court has been told.

A former Newquay man, McIntyre, 53, now of St Martin's Terrace, Camborne, even used his illness as part of his fraud, prosecutors claimed.

The court heard he posed as a retiring entrepreneur who wanted to hand over the reins of a successful venture.

Businessman Kevin Papworth told the court he agreed to buy an online business from McIntyre.

He said: "The business matched all the requirements I was looking for. It looked like a well established business with room for growth.

"I thought the business would take time to grow but the opportunity was there."

Mr Papworth said McIntyre told him he was selling up and moving to Spain.

He agreed to buy the business for £40,000, with an immediate deposit of £10,000.

Mr Papworth said he worked on the business for a year but the enterprise earned him nothing.

Asked how much money he had made, he insisted: "Zero – not a penny."

Earlier, prosecutor Andrew MacFarlane told jurors McIntyre cited his multiple sclerosis to other victims as a reason for giving up his business.

He said while it was true the defendant, who is wheelchair bound and helped to court by St John Ambulance, did have MS, "this did not prevent him from continuing with the fraud".

McIntyre denies 37 charges of fraud.

The case continues.