CLUGSTON: FIVE YEARS FOR ‘CHAMPAGNE CHARLIE’
A serial conman dubbed ‘Champagne Charlie’ who tricked businesses out of £19,500 by selling them non-existent bubbly at bargain prices is behind bars once again.
John Clugston, 65, was jailed for five years today (WED) for running the same ruse he has been convicted of employing three times in the last eight years.
In the latest case the crook visited offices across London, pretending to have cases of leftover Bollinger and Dom Perignon from parties, and offering to sell it for knock down prices..
After taking cash, the fraudster vanished.
He carried out the scam 31 times between February and July 2011.
Jailing Clugston, who admitted six counts of fraud by false representation and asked for a further 25 offences to be taken into consideration, Judge Stephen Robbins said: ‘You are a professional conman – who has come to be known as Champagne Charlie – a public menace and a repeat offender.’
The court heard that in April 2011 Clugston walked into an office block adjacent to Amourers Hall, in Coleman Street, central London, claiming to be from the hall and offering to sell bottles of Dom Perignon left over from a function for £15.
Prosecutor Gavin Ludlow-Thompson said: ‘He was offered payment by card, but said he would only accept cash.
‘He was then offered the assistance of the office boy for help with the cases, but after going outside he put him off.
‘A couple of hours later nothing had been done and enquires were made next-door and where they were told they did not know of the individual and had no champagne for sale.’
The court heard Clugston as arrested in July after a manhunt that ended with him being spotted on a bus by an off-duty detective who recognised Clugston from a CCTV still.
Mr Ludlow-Thompson said: ‘The circumstances of the arrest are that on July 26 an officer who had seen the image…saw, on the lower deck of a bus in Clapham Junction, a man she thought looked like the man [in the photo].
‘She went across to him, established that he was indeed the man and he was arrested.’
Ravi Dogra, defending said: ‘His offending is motivated by an addiction to gambling, something he says started 35 years ago.’
Clugston was jailed for six years in 2003, later reduced to four years, after making off with at least £30,000 by offering top quality champagne at bargain prices.
In June 2007 he was caught again but given a chance to beat his gambling habit with a nine month community order with supervision by probation officers.
On September 15, 2008, he walked into the office of Kathleen Morrell at the Morrell Business Centre in Curtain Road, Old Street, east London.
Clugston posed as the director from the nearby estate agents claiming he had a surplus of cases of Bollinger and Cristal champagne for £100 and £350 for 12 bottles respectively.
Bollinger retails at up to £30 a bottle.
Sentencing him to three years jail at the Old Bailey in December 2008, Judge Timothy Pontius had said: ‘You are without doubt a thoroughgoing (corr) dishonest rogue and you are plainly an incorrigible rogue.’
His latest offences were committed in Kingston, Southwark, Westminster, Lambeth, Camden, Hackney, Hammersmith & Fulham and the City of London.
The court heard Clugston’s offending began in 1960 when he appeared before the then Marylebone Juvenile Court charged with theft.
The Theft Act was not introduced until 1968.
Clugston, formerly of Upton Avenue, Southwick, Brighton, will be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on a date yet to be fixed.
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