‘Kardashian of Cheshire’ paedophile jailed for luxury handbag fraud

A convicted paedophile who described himself as the “Kardashian of Cheshire” has been jailed for fraud after he used an elaborate luxury handbag scam to steal nearly £200,000.

Jack Watkin, 26, of Alderley Edge, portrayed himself as a millionaire with a “glamorous lifestyle” on social media and duped six victims, including his own father and friends, into believing he was a “wealthy” and “well-connected” reseller of Hermès handbags.

He persuaded his victims to lend him a total of £195,464.81 so that he could invest in the exclusive bags, which are only sold to select registered customers and can often be resold at far more than their original price.

After claiming he had “special access” to Hermès products, he promised he would split the profit from the re-sales of the luxury bags with his investors and return their loan with interest.

Instead of buying the bags, he used the money he obtained to fund a “seemingly lavish lifestyle”, posting images of exotic holidays and a fleet of supercars on his Instagram page, and staying in five-star hotels like the Dorchester in Mayfair.

In June, he admitted six fraud offences on the second day of his trial at Chester crown court. Separately, in April, he was found guilty of possessing indecent images of children and extreme pornographic pictures including images of bestiality.

Police examining his phone after he was arrested in connection with the fraud case discovered more than 600 distressing images, relating to “probably hundreds of victims” who were children. Nearly 300 were category A photographs, denoting the worst type of child abuse images, and 68 of these were moving images or videos.

On Monday, he was sentenced to four-and-a-half years for the fraud offences and an additional 18 months for nine indecent image offences, including three charges of making an indecent photograph/pseudo-photograph of a child.

In sentencing remarks Judge Berkson said Watkin “clearly” had an interest in viewing “the most vile indecent images of children” and continued to download and possess further images while he was on bail for his earlier arrest.

DC Gareth Yates of Cheshire police’s economic crime unit said: “Not only did Watkin deceive his victims by befriending them and taking thousands from them, but he was also hiding a depraved secret habit, sickening his victims further after his hideous secret was uncovered when his mobile phones were downloaded by specialist officers.

“It was never going to end well, and his downfall was inevitable. Whether his other victims come forward with their losses, only time will tell.”