Grieving Sutton parents angered after conman's sentence is halved

Grieving parents fighting for the truth about what happened to their daughter have spoken of their disgust after conman who targeted them had his sentence halved.

Simon Delow who contacted Pat and Ray Martin to offer his services as an investigator was later jailed after admitting fraud.

Delow, who posed as ex-special forces in a plot to fleece other grieving families of people who had died abroad, was jailed for 10 years at Durham Crown Court in October last year after admitting 10 counts of fraud by false representation.

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But this week he has had his jail term almost halved by senior judges on appeal.

It has angered Pat, aged 61, and Ray, 62, of Mansfield Road, Sutton, who fell victim to Delow .

Their daughter, Claire Martin died of multiple knife wounds to the throat outside the family villa of her Italian fiancé in Campania, southern Italy, in March 2012, aged 31.

They had been fighting to get the case into their daughter’s death reopened since it was classed a suicide by Italian authorities.

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Her parents first met Delow in September that year, at a conference for people who have lost loved ones abroad.

Delow, 48, gained the Martins’ trust by claiming he had been in the RAF and special forces.

Mr Martin has said he has angry at himself for believing Delow, as he himself had been in the military. He said; “He spoke like an officer and was completely believable.

“We only got to know about the sentence change when a reporter rang us up to ask what we thought about it.

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“They system is all wrong it is ridiculous for what the guy did - he was out on licence for a previous insurance scam at the time.

Delow’s case reached the Appeal Court as his legal team challenged his sentence, claiming it was far too tough.

Lord Justice Hickinbottom, sitting with two other judges, said Delow had “deliberately targeted families who had lost loved ones abroad”.

But he concluded: “The sentence imposed here, even given these peculiar aggravating factors, was entirely out of kilter with the guidelines.We will quash this sentence and replace it with one of six years.”

Delow had planned to con £100,000 from his victims, although only £18,000 changed hands.

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