A FIFE man who conned £58,000 worth of cash, goods and services from women he was dating and various businesses was sent to jail for three years and four months at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court yesterday.

Steven McKenzie (39), of Kellie Court, Glenrothes, admitted five offences between October 2003 and January 2005:

*That on October 20 at a house in Glenrothes he falsely pretended to an Edinburgh firm that he was trading as Scottish Guardian Management (SGM) Security and obtained £2059 worth of clothing he did not intend to pay for.

*That between January and March 2004 he convinced a Fife woman he owned a security firm, stables and a horse training yard and that his ex-wife had frozen bank accounts containing £250,000. Thus he induced the woman to pay him a total of £27,277 to pay for staff and fuel costs.

*Between February 1 and 28 from a house in Glenrothes he pretended to a Forfar publishers that he ran SMG Security and a firm named Mack Track and thus obtain two adverts and an article in equestrian magazines worth £1034.

*Between April and July 2004 in Motherwell and Glenrothes falsely pretended to a woman he needed money to pay staff, feed horses and pay his ex-wife, who had frozen his accounts, and thus obtained £20,000 by fraud.

*Between January 1 and 31 from an address in Glenrothes obtained £7592 of communications equipment from a Livingston firm without intending to pay.

The court heard he met the women he conned through lonely hearts columns.

Defence solicitor Martin McGuire said McKenzie was a man with a “troubled background” who suffered from ill-health as a result of insulin-dependent diabetes.

He added that McKenzie had personal problems following a number of failed marriages and had gambling debts.

Sheriff Peter Braid told McKenzie, “By placing adverts in lonely hearts columns you deliberately targeted women who could be seen as vulnerable and used them as prey to obtain significant sums of money.

“You have shown little remorse for your actions and you have had ample time to pay...if you really wanted to.

Sheriff Braid added that he had 12 previous convictions for 17 offences of dishonesty and was therefore deemed at “high risk” of re-offending.”

Detective Constable Ian Whittle of Fife Constabulary, one of the investigating officers, said later, “This man not only robbed women of their money, he also robbed many of them of their confidence and self-respect.”