A CONMAN who fleeced his fiancée by using her details to pocket almost £20,000 in loans and credit has been given a chance to pay the money back – or face jail.

Paul Mason forged bank statements in order to apply for loans in the woman's name, changed her online banking password so only he could access her account and also interfered with her post so she did not receive financial statements.

The couple were engaged to be married, but split up after a ten-month relationship when Mason “disappeared from her life”.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the relationship ended when Mason failed to turn up for a planned meeting arranged between the pair and subsequently emailed her to reveal his deception, also apologising.

Prosecutor Jenny Haigh said: “The defendant used her accounts as his own and took out a number of loans in her name. He also used her bank account without her authority.”

The woman had to rely on financial help from her parents in order to keep her business afloat because of the financial impact of the fraud.

The loans included £6,500 from the Co-operative bank and more than £3,800 from online loans company Pounds to Pocket.

Mason, 32, previously of Middlesbrough, but now living in Melrose Drive, Bedford, admitted 17 offences including fraud and attempting to commit fraud by false representation.

Peter Sabiston, mitigating, said Mason had repaid one of the loans and was prepared to make efforts to repay the rest.

He said: “None of these loans will accrue to the complainant because they were obtained fraudulently.”

However Judge Howard Crowson said the cost still had to be covered by the financial organisations concerned.

The judge said Mason was “teetering on the brink” of prison. He told him: “You have committed an offence which justifies a prison sentence, but the question is whether you serve it straight away.”

Judge Crowson deferred sentence on Mason for six months and said he wanted to see evidence that Mason was repaying the cash at a rate of no less than £400 a month, more if possible.

He also made the defendant subject to a restraining order which will remain in place until any further order.