Man on fraud and burgarly charges

Man on fraud and burgarly charges

15 July 2020

A NEWCASTLE  man has been released on bail after appearing in court accused of burglary and fraud charges involving elderly women.

Mark Miller (46), of Dundrum Road, faces the alleged charges along with a co-accused, 55 year-old Belfast man Elijah Lee.

They appeared at Belfast Magistrates’ Court on Monday on several charges, including fraud by deception.

The court was told that last Friday, a 95 year-old woman from Newtownabbey received a call telling her she owned money to BT and agreed to leave a bank card and her PIN number in her letterbox. This was later taken and used to withdraw £440. 

In a second incident reported last week, an 84 year-old woman from the Four Winds area in Belfast was also contacted and told she owed £200 to BT. 

A detective constable said she was also asked to leave her bank card and PIN number in her hallway which was collected by a man 20 minutes later. 

The man pushed past the elderly woman to grab the card, causing her to fall down. Several cash withdrawals were later made using the card, the detective added.

The detective said that the third incident involved a 73 year-old Bangor woman who also received a call last week claiming that she owed £1,500 to BT.

In this case, the woman was told to go and get the money from her bank. On her return home, a man opened her car door and snatched the cash.

The detective gave evidence that the same car was used in all three incidents and alleged that it was driven by Lee while Miller was alleged to have been the person who approached the houses in Newtownabbey and Belfast and who snatched the money from the Bangor woman. 

The car was detected in Antrim and after CCTV footage was viewed, police arrested the two men, added the detective.

Police opposed a bail application for Miller. However, Miller’s solicitor said that while he accepted the crimes were “terrible”, he argued that his client was not involved. 

Miller was granted bail under a number of imposed conditions while Lee was also granted bail.

They are to appear again at Belfast Magistrates’ Court on August 10.