Ex-Royal Pc 'conned Iraq veteran'

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An Iraq veteran was among the victims of an ex-royal protection officer who conned friends and colleagues out of thousands of pounds, a court has heard.

Former Royal Marine Robin McGregor told jurors he took out a £25,000 loan to invest in property deals.

Prosecutors say much of the cash was gambled away as Paul Page lived a life of luxury conning colleagues and friends in a betting and property scam.

Mr Page, 37, and his wife Laura, 42, from Essex, deny all the charges.

The court has heard the officers protecting the royal family lost more than £250,000 to a spread betting venture set up by Mr Page called "The Currency Club," which he allegedly set up to clear spiralling debts.

The prosecution has claimed much of the cash was laundered by Mrs Page before being gambled away.

'A farce'

Mr McGregor told a jury at Southwark Crown Court that he believed he had invested in a development of Essex barns.

He said he worked on the site for two weeks to find out how the project was progressing.

What he found, he added, was "a bit of a farce - and I became a bit concerned".

Mr McGregor's brother, Adam, who was a sergeant with the Royal Protection Command, had also invested in Mr Page's schemes, jurors were told.

Robin McGregor added: "Naively at the time, I didn't go for a written contract because my brother trusted him so much.

"His approach was that the barns were there, they weren't going anywhere and that was a time that property was going up even if you didn't touch it."

Mr Page wanted to visit his Taunton base to persuade others to invest, but Mr McGregor said he was reluctant.

Pet tarantula

The court also heard from Pc James Mahaffy, a member of the Royal Protection Squad based at St James's Palace.

He said he had initially invested £5,000 in a spread-betting scheme run by Mr Page and received good returns at first.

Something strange was going on, he was pushing for more money Pc James Mahaffy

But he ended up investing a total of £130,000 for the development of the barns, a fire-damaged house, new flats in Loughton, Essex, and a property in Esher, Surrey.

In early 2004, Pc Mahaffy asked for some of his money back, receiving £15,000 - but said further requests were met with a series of "excuses" including that relatives were ill or had died.

Mr Page even said that he had got a hair from his pet tarantula in his eye as a reason not to return the cash.

Pc Mahaffy said that in 2005, when his wife was seriously ill, and Mr Page repeatedly called him asking for more money.

He added: "Paul phoned me up a few times, I think three or four times, during that process of her being in hospital.

"To be honest, I really couldn't deal with it and I told him that.

"It was a very difficult time. That was when I started thinking something strange was going on, he was pushing for more money."

The alleged fraud involved using the money for investing in property that promised "fantastic" but unrealistically high rates of interest.

The court has been told that Mr Page hid his dishonesty behind a "veneer of credibility" fuelled by a fleet of expensive cars and claims he was a highly "adept" property developer and market speculator.

Mr Page, a father-of-five, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of fraudulent trading, intimidation, threatening to take revenge and making a threat to kill.

Mrs Page denies "being concerned in an arrangement facilitating dealings with criminal property", intimidation and making a threat to kill.

The trial continues.