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ROM CON
I’m living on benefits after ‘Walter Mitty’ love rat stole £200k – he conned 60 other women, run a mile if you see him
You'll be stunned to hear what Sharon endured at the hands of David Checkley
BANKRUPT and homeless, Sharon Shearer wishes she had never let David Checkley into her life.
After wooing her with lies and false promises during their three-year romance, the serial conman duped Sharon, 70, out of over £200,000.
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And now, as Checkley serves another prison sentence for 11 years for cruelly duping 60 other women over four decades, she's certain he'll strike again the moment he's released.
Speaking exclusively to Fabulous, Sharon issues a stark warning to other women: “I want every woman to see his photo and know he is a complete conman. If you see him, you must run a mile," she urges.
"He's in jail again but he will already be thinking about his next victim."
Sharon from Hertfordshire, was beginning to rebuild her life after falling for Checkley's cruel deceit when she was flooded with messages from women last year, claiming to be victims too.
Read more on fraud
“My heart sank when I heard he was at it again." she says.
“It’s easy to look back and think how foolish I was, but he was very charming and convincing at first. And as time passed, and the cracks showed, I just ignored them because I wanted it to be real.
It’s easy to look back and think how foolish I was, but he was very charming and convincing at first.
Sharon Shearer
“The police told me I was the biggest loser of us all – I lost over £200,000, I lost my home, my business. I was penniless. I was actually the first to report him too, but the police didn’t take me seriously."
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Another victim speaks...
Fabulous previous spoke to Angie Montana, who was also stung by Checkley.
Checkley - who told Angie he was called David Cohen - met mum-of-two Angie on a dating site.
He claimed he was a wealthy architect who travelled the world designing palaces for “kings and princes” and that he had once been married to a billionaire electronics heiress.
They enjoyed a string of dates, where David flashed the cash, before convincing her to lend him £3,200 — but she would soon discover he was a fraud.
His real name is David Checkley, and he had cruelly deceived more than 60 women across almost four decades.
In December 2023 he was jailed for 11 years, with police describing him as “the most prolific and heartless” person carrying out this kind of fraud they had ever come across.
Angie, 63, from Hertfordshire, says: “I am a businesswoman, and very sensible. I can’t believe I got taken advantage of by a conman.
“But when I met David on the dating website Plenty Of Fish in January 2020, I was at the lowest point in my life."
“I had just finished chemotherapy for non-Hodgkin lymphoma blood cancer and was recovering from a severe road collision in which I suffered arm, leg and chest injuries.
“I had been single for over a year after separating from the father of my grown-up children. I was lonely and I was looking for a partner."
Mum of one Sharon, now 70, met Checkley, now 66, from St Albans, Herts, early in 2007, when he came to look round her shop in Enfield, North London, where she sold retro goods.
She says: “He was full of charm and very chatty and made it clear he was attracted to me. He told me he was a counsellor. He was smartly dressed, and he had a beautiful car outside.
“I suppose I felt flattered. I’d been on my own for ten years following the end of a long marriage. I’d been concentrating on raising my son, so for someone to show interest in me was nice.”
On Sharon’s first visit to Checkley’s home, she noticed a woman leaving as she was arriving. Checkley, now one of Britain's most prolific love rats, told Sharon the woman was one of his counselling clients.
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Sharon also spotted female belongings around the house, but Checkley explained his daughter from a previous relationship often stayed.
She says: “He had an answer for everything. His home was lovely, he had posh cars with private regs. He was handsome and successful, and I suppose I couldn’t believe my luck.”
Checkley told Sharon he was a US army veteran who had served as a fighter pilot in Vietnam. He even showed her a photo of himself in his army uniform, as a young man.
He claimed to be a friend of Michael Jackson. He also said his parents had died in a car crash and said he himself had survived cancer twice.
Sharon says: “It made me warm to him. He’d had an eventful life. We went to Grenada on holiday, and I met some of his family. They all seemed genuine.
HOW TO SPOT A ROM CON
ROMANCE fraud expert Lisa Mills from the charity Victim Support reveals the four signs of a con artist to Nikki Watkins.
EARLY DECLARATIONS OF LOVE
EARLY and dramatic declarations of love are a common tactic employed by fraudsters to build trust and trick you into developing strong feelings for them.
Once you’re under their spell they will try to manipulate you into giving them money or personal information.
KEEPING YOUR ROMANCE UNDER WRAPS
BE extremely wary of anyone asking you to keep your relationship a secret. They may want to isolate you from your family to make you more vulnerable.
ASKING TO SEE YOUR DRIVING LICENCE
NEVER hand over sensitive information or copies of key documents such as your driving licence and passport. They may be duplicating them to obtain credit.
USING AI TO TRICK YOU
MORE and more fraudsters are using AI to trick you into believing they’re a real person.
If their voice sounds distorted or their eyes and mouth seem to be moving in an unnatural way while on a video call it could be a sign that the person you’re speaking to isn’t real.
“One day, he gifted me pearl earrings and a necklace which he said belonged to his grandmother. I would later discover he had stolen them from another of his girlfriends.”
Sharon even bought him a Harley Davison motorbike – which she later saw him riding with another girlfriend. She also discovered he had stolen her mother’s wedding ring from her bedroom and gifted it to a girlfriend.
Soon into the relationship, Checkley confessed he had been to prison for five years for his part in a plot to abduct and murder the former Channel 4 presenter Mark Levy.
Sharon says: “I was horrified, but also found his honesty very disarming. He insisted he was innocent and he had been caught up in something beyond his control.”
Checkley then asked Sharon for a loan of £3,000 to cover a cash flow issue. He explained he was a qualified architect with plans to expand overseas.
One day, he gifted me pearl earrings and a necklace which he said belonged to his grandmother. I would later discover he had stolen them from another of his girlfriends.
Sharon Shearer
She says: “I was not wealthy, but I agreed, thinking I would get it back. He’d call me late at night with wind in the background and tell me he was on a crane, at a building site somewhere. He rang me once with seagulls in the background, and said he was working in Russia. He planned to fly us both to Japan, where he was designing a golf course.
“He kept promising he had big deals in the pipeline, and he’d be able to pay me back. He proposed and I said yes. I really wanted it to be real. I wanted him to love me.”
Sharon paid Checkley’s utility bills, speeding fines and monthly mobile-phone bills – including calls he made to all his other women. She bought him boxes of Merlot and paid expensive restaurant bills – little realising he was out with other women.
He told me I was fat and ugly, and he said everyone laughed at me, not with me.
Sharon Shearer
She also bought him a Rolex watch.
Having run out of money, Sharon took out two loans of £50,000 each.
She says: “Every time I mentioned the money, he’d round on me and was really nasty, saying if I didn’t trust him to pay me back then he’d end the relationship. He told me I was fat and ugly, and he said everyone laughed at me, not with me.
“He made me feel worthless so that I felt I didn’t deserve to leave him. I hadn’t the confidence to do anything about the money.
“He didn’t approve of my friends, and he was horrible to my son. He isolated me from everyone – again, making sure I could not confide in anyone.
“My mother’s wedding ring went missing, and I later found out David had gifted it to one of his girlfriends. I had lots of things go missing and he made me think I was losing my mind.”
How you can get help
Women's Aid has this advice for victims and their families:
- Always keep your phone nearby.
- Get in touch with charities for help, including the Women’s Aid live chat helpline and services such as SupportLine.
- If you are in danger, call 999.
- Familiarise yourself with the Silent Solution, reporting abuse without speaking down the phone, instead dialing “55”.
- Always keep some money on you, including change for a pay phone or bus fare.
- If you suspect your partner is about to attack you, try to go to a lower-risk area of the house – for example, where there is a way out and access to a telephone.
- Avoid the kitchen and garage, where there are likely to be knives or other weapons. Avoid rooms where you might become trapped, such as the bathroom, or where you might be shut into a cupboard or other small space.
If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – [email protected].
Women’s Aid provides a - available weekdays from 8am-6pm and weekends 10am-6pm.
You can also call the freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.
Almost a year after they met, Sharon’s business went bankrupt. Penniless, she pleaded with him to stop spending and pay her back.
She then received a message on social media from a young woman claiming to be Checkley’s daughter – asking if he owed her money.
Sharon says: “In the back of my mind, I had my suspicions, but had tried to ignore them. But now, I realised, I had to face it.”
Checkley was also in the process of setting up a website for a new business, and he introduced Sharon to a woman he described as a colleague. Through social media, they discovered they were both in a relationship with the same man.
I felt completely humiliated admitting what he had done.
Sharon Shearer
Sharon says: “I saw photos of her on the Harley Davison which I paid for. Worse, I noticed she was wearing my mother’s wedding ring. The deceit was just mind-boggling.”
Heartbroken and appalled, Sharon went to the police, but was told she had no complaint. By now, she had parted with over £200,000, and had lost her business and her home.
Later that year, she was contacted by the police who were now busy unravelling Checkley’s lies.
She says: “There were so many women, several of whom stood by him or were too ashamed to come forward. I understand that, I felt completely humiliated admitting what he had done.
“Yet at the same time, I didn’t want to get him away with it.”
I had a complete breakdown. I felt like such a fool. I was surviving on benefits, I felt I’d let my son down.
Sharon Shearer
For ten months, Sharon pretended to continue with the relationship, whilst police gathered evidence. Checkley appeared in court in September 2010 charged wiyh and was jailed for six years and ten months.
Sharon says: “I had a complete breakdown. I felt like such a fool. I was surviving on benefits, I felt I’d let my son down.”
The mum is far from alone in falling for a prolific fraudster like Checkley.
In the last year, the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB), run by the City of London Police, received 8,792 reports of romance fraud, amounting to losses of over £94.7 million. The average loss per person was £10,774
Last year, Sharon was contacted on Facebook by a string of women, asking her about Checkley.
She says: "I was not surprised - He will never change. He even has women visiting him in jail.
“The man is heartless. He is so good at what he does, but he is a complete fraud.
“I live on benefits; I have nothing to leave my son. But it is not the money which hurts the most. Checkley completely ruined my confidence and stripped away at my personality."
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But Sharon refuses to let what happened in the past wreck her future.
“It will take me a long time to ever trust another man. But I won’t be beaten by him.”
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