Get the inside track on the big stories from Liverpool Crown Court with our weekly newsletter Subscribe now Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

A fraudster, who tried to con a 98-year-old woman, met his match when she set up clever sting with a pensioner friend.

A judge said without them turning the tables “it is highly likely he would have got away with it”.

When Doreen Rimmer became suspicious of a dodgy mobility scooter salesman Paul Frossell she alerted her 66-year-old friend Ken Pike and together they hatched a plan to catch him out.

For despite her years, the widow, who sadly has since died, was extremely alert and “nobody’s fool”.

The former matron had a certificate from Mensa, gave talks about her life and was still passionate about crosswords. “She was an amazing lady”, said Mr Pike.

Frossell, 46, was convicted of fraud by magistrates last summer after a trial but immediately appealed that conviction. His day long appeal has now been thrown out and he was jailed for 12 months.

Mrs Rimmer gave evidence at the magistrates hearing and this was read at the crown court hearing.

In her statement Mrs Rimmer told how she bought a red electric mobility scooter for £2,795 from Motobility World in Southport in April 2015 where Frossell worked.

Apart from a concern about its lightness of the steering she had no problems with it but on Easter Sunday last year she got a telephone call out of the blue from Frossell, introducing himself as Paul from Motorbility World.

“He informed me there had been a recall of my type of scooter and would have to take it back to check it.” She said she was shocked as she was not experiencing any problems with it and it was Easter Sunday.

He turned up at her Southport home 15 minutes later and after driving it told her “there is something seriously wrong with it”.

Frossell said he would take it and she could borrow a yellow one he had in his car until he brought hers back on Tuesday. “He told me I could buy it off him for £1,500 and exchange for my own scooter and told me it was worth £9,000, I told him I wasn’t interested and told him my scooter would have to last me.”

He gave her his business card before leaving and saying to call if she changed her mind and afterwards she found it was two cards stuck together, with the outside saying ‘Paul Gordon The Scooter Man’ and the insides saying Motobiity World.

The court heard that she called Mr Pike who immediately came round and he rang the manufacturers who said that there had been no recall of that model.

He also rang Mobility World who said that Frossell had left them eight months earlier and Mr Pike contacted the police who told him to let them know when Frossell returned.

The court heard that he then rang Frossell pretending to be Mrs Rimmer’s son-in-law saying he was interested in buying the yellow scooter and when he turned up he dialled 999.

While waiting for officers to arrive he kept Frossell chatting and even went on a test ride on the scooter, while unknown to Frossell his wife and Mrs Rimmer were watching from her home laughing as he rode a scooter for the first time.

Frossell denied in court that he had said he was from Mobility World and saying that the machine was subject of a manufacturer’s recall. He said he had bought the yellow scooter hardly used at a bargain price of £800 and sold it to his mum for £8,000.

She had sadly died in 2015 and he offered to sell it to Mrs Rimmer for £1,500 but was not intending to take her scooter as well, he claimed.

Grey-haired Frossell, of Castle Walk, Southport, is formerly from North Wales. He was jailed in 2013 for swindling an elderly couple out of £5,000 while he was working for another mobility company.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that he had previously been jailed for six months for deliberately targeting a vulnerable elderly customer.

Mr Pike later said of his friend: “She was ready for battle, she was very old school. We took her to court in her wheelchair. She was cross he had tried to hoodwink her.”

Jailing Frossell the judge, Recorder Anthony Long, told him: “You continue to deny it and have shown no remorse whatsoever. Only a custodial sentence is appropriate to punish you and deter others who might be the tempted to take advantage of very old vulnerable people.”

He said that Frossell had deliberately targeted a 98-year-old woman and his plan was to get her 11 month old scooter still under warranty along with £1,500 cash and replace it with a third hand scooter. “But she smelt a rat.”