A SERIAL fraudster, who attempted to con a Bromley businessman out of his £39,500 Bentley, has been locked up for 27 months.

Robert Henry Soanes-Madejski, 20, of King Edward Road, Greenhithe has been sent to a young offender’s institute for fraud after trying to dupe the Bentley’s owner.

Soanes-Madejski pleaded guilty to fraud at Croydon Crown Court last month. 

Soanes-Madejski built up a good rapport with the victim after providing bank statements and showing a good knowledge of the controls inside the car.

However, the alarm was raised when Soanes-Madejski’s cheque bounced and a friend of the victim recognised the young cheat from a previous fraud case in 2010.

Detective Constable James Coldham, from Bromley police's CID, said: "Soanes-Madejski has proven to be a well versed story teller and a competent trickster. 

“He is a 'Walter Mitty’ character who has invented a story around his life to make others think he is a wealthy young business man, when he is not. 

“Undeterred by his previous convictions and sentences he has continued to commit this type of offence to fund his lifestyle defaulting on any expenses he incurs in the process.”

The victim said a very posh sounding man, calling himself Henry Madejski, phoned him three or four times to enquire about the advertised Bentley in May.

Later that day, Soanes-Madejski test drove the car for 20 minutes with the victim, who was impressed with the fraudster’s grasp of the Bentley’s controls.

Unemployed Soanes-Madejski told the victim that he and his father owned the company Harlequin Management Limited, who run Kent and Surrey Golf Club.

He said he had no reason to doubt that Soanes-Madejski was a genuine buyer.

The victim accepted a cheque for £13,500 from Soanes-Madejski with an agreement that the further £26,000 would be transferred over the following day.

Yet, the victim became suspicious when his bank notified him that Soanes-Madejski’s cheque was fraudulent.

On May 10, nine days after the victim was first called enquiring about the Bentley Soanes-Madejski was arrested at a Welling car alarm shop when trying to remove the vehicle’s tracker device.

Soanes-Madejski’s initially hit the headlines in 2010 after purporting to be Lord Robert J Doughty with over a million pounds to his name and on the basis of this committed a number of offences of fraud.