A true story of a conman who managed to live a double life for more than two years is being told in a new nine-part podcast released by BBC England today (Tuesday February 14).
The series investigates how self-proclaimed hero firefighter ‘James Scott’ maintained a relationship with a woman he met online, Coleen Greenwood, from Chester-le-Street, while secretly still living with his wife and three children, in Darlington.
For a long time, neither woman knew of the others’ existence as ex-soldier Greg Wilson, the callous fraudster’s real name, used the shift patterns of a firefighter to enable him to share his time between Ms Greenwood and his actual family.
The series follows TV star, author and podcast host Vicky Pattison, as she returns to her native North East to meet the victim and hears how she, and everyone around her, were deceived by the man they knew as ‘James Scott’.
Fraudster Greg Wilson jailed for six years in April 2020
Ms Pattison speaks at length to Wilson’s now ex-wife, Rachel, about how he managed to keep her in the dark when he was away with his new love, sometimes for days at a time.
Read more: Conman who posed as fireman and lied about vasectomy jailed for £100,000 frauds
Using a web of falsehoods, Wilson would eventually take tens of thousands of pounds from Ms Greenwood’s sister, Karen Crear, supposedly as investments in his various property businesses, while also defrauding multiple companies on Tyneside.
The principal victims said they were ‘love-bombed’ by the fraudster and the podcast, which takes the term as its title, explores what it really means.
Using exclusive access to police files, the presenter seeks answers by speaking to various figures caught up in the true crime story.
Ms Pattison, who rose to fame via the reality series Geordie Shore, said: “I’ve been engaged three times and had more than enough dating disasters, but this puts anything I’ve been through into perspective.
“I’ve never seen anything this outlandish on the telly.
“It’s that crazy, but it did happen and that’s why I’m so fascinated.”
The series sees the heartbreak caused as Wilson twice led Ms Greenwood into believing they were to be married, only thwarting it each time at the eleventh hour.
It was after the truth emerged over second fictional ceremony and Wilson was confronted over the fact the wedding venue was never booked, that he disappeared, not to be seen again by Ms Greenwood.
Read more: Convincing fraudster was jailed for six years in April
Wilson, of Thornaby, who had no previous convictions, but a conditional caution for selling non-existent tickets for a Take That concert, admitted eight counts of fraud, two of forgery and one each of converting criminal property and making a false statement about a birth.
But those admissions were made only shortly before his scheduled trial at Durham Crown Court, in January 2020, having previously denied all the charges.
By the time of his sentencing hearing, at Newcastle Crown Court, in April that year, he was remanded in custody at HMP Durham, from where he appeared via video link.
His own counsel, Julian White, described Wilson’s crimes as, “manifestly stupid, given the inevitability he was going to be found out.”
Despite a supposed letter of apology written to the court by the defendant, Judge James Adkin told Wilson he did not feel he had any real remorse.
Imposing a six-year prison sentence, Judge Adkin told Wilson, who is now 42: “The background to this offending shows frankly jaw-dropping arrogance and cruelty in the way that you so persistently and wickedly deceived your victims, particularly Coleen Greenwood.
“You lied about your name, occupation, family details, marital status and, quite bizarrely, faked a vasectomy.
“You feigned other illness to postpone marriage and to prolong your frauds.”
He accused Wilson of, “calculated emotional manipulation”, to extract money from Ms Greenwood, her sister and others.
A year to the day after being imprisoned, Wilson, by then serving his sentence at Stockton’s Holme House Prison, was ordered to pay £36,000 to Ms Greenwood in a crime proceeds hearing at Durham Crown Court.
It was to come by way of 36 successive £1,000 monthly payments from Wilson’s Army pension.
Speaking about the podcast, producer Jon Douglas said: “This fraud went on for years and the main motivation does not seem to have been money.
“It’s only when you hear the lengths this man went to in order to create and maintain his illusion, that you can appreciate how so many perfectly intelligent people were taken in.”
Read next:
Conman to pay £1k a month for three years from Army pension
Compensation enforcers unaware of fraudster’s prison switch
Man jailed for defrauding £75k from County Durham widow
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Chris Burns, Controller of Local Audio Commissioning, said: “This is an astonishing tale from across Tyneside and Teesside, and demonstrates just how well BBC England brings true crime stories to life.”
‘Love-Bombed with Vicky Pattison: How a serial cheater managed to hide his true identity’, is a BBC England production for BBC Sounds, with the full series available from today (Tuesday 14 February).
It is also being serialised on both BBC Radio Newcastle and BBC Radio Tees.
