A FRAUDSTER told a woman he met on Tinder that his kidney had been removed to con her out of more than £3,000.

Conman Paul Gillett was jailed after admitting three frauds and 21 similar matters at Worcester Crown Court.

The combined fraud was worth £7,500 and Gillett, who appeared via videolink from prison, could be heard snivelling as details of the offences were read out.

Gillett stole £3,182 from a woman he met on Tinder, claiming he needed the cash for his medical bills to cover the cost of a bogus health condition.

The defendant also took money for two tickets to an Ed Sheeran gig despite not actually having them.

The court also heard details of 19 further sales of non-existent tickets to Sheeran gigs and the sale of two drones and an iPhone which also did not exist.

The 28-year-old, previously of Worcester, but now of Coronation Road, Carmarthen in Wales sold the fake tickets to Ellie Churchill and Emille Curtis.

The frauds took place between February 1 and April 28, 2017 and between February 28 and April 30, 2017.

Gillett also admitted a third fraud against Rebecca Rouse, lying to her that he required funds for medical treatment when he did not. This fraud was carried out between February 21 and April 11, 2017.

The suspect met his victim on Tinder and started to message her, claiming he was a funeral director. He claimed that he was seriously ill and had to have a kidney removed.

The victim gave Gillett cash for treatment but found out he was back on Tinder and doing the same to others.

A spokesman for West Mercia Police said one of the victims in the ticket scam had learned via Twitter that a male by the name of Paul Gill or Paul Gillet was selling four tickets for Ed Sheeran for the Genting area on April 28, 2017 at a price of £77 each – the face value.

The victim agreed via text to transfer money. The seller told her that he should receive the tickets 10 days before the concert and that he would forward them to her by Tuesday, April 25.

However, the tickets did not arrive and the phone numbers provided by the seller were unobtainable. The Twitter account was also removed.

Police began looking into Gillett's bank account at Halifax in Worcester.

Michael Conry, prosecuting, read out personal statements from the victims. One of them said they would find it hard to trust anyone again and called the fraud 'downright nasty'.

Another said she felt 'betrayed'.

One victim told police: "I have been struggling with life and dealing with suicidal thoughts and wanted to take my own life because of the difficulties of dealing with this."

Mr Conry said of the medical fraud: "His intention was to make her feel sorry for him."

The court heard that Gillett still owed £12,500 to his previous victims as part of a compensation order.

However, he was described by Mr Conry as 'a man of straw' and has yet to pay back a penny of the money.

Mark Lister, for Gillett, said: "Mr Gillett acknowledges entirely that a custodial sentence must follow in this case and that it must be immediate."

Mr Lister said at the time Gillett was 'at a low ebb', 'felt lonely', had 'no other means' and had lost contact with his family.

"In those circumstances he simply fell back into the fraudulent activity that brings him back before the court," said Mr Lister.

He asked that his client be given credit for his early guilty plea.

Judge Nicolas Cartwright told Gillett: "You have significant previous convictions for offences of dishonesty which led to the imposition of a suspended sentence in November 2016."

Judge Cartwright said of the medical fraud: "You went to very great lengths to persuade her you had a serious medical condition. You were lying to her in a number of other ways as well.

"You bought dressings and applied them to your body to cover what you were pretending was some sort of procedure or operation mark or scar when the whole thing was a fraud."

The judge said the victim in the medical fraud had been the most affected of the three. She had offered Gillett both emotional and financial support.

On Monday Judge Cartwright jailed Gillett for three years, activating an 18 month suspended prison sentence for a previous fraud offence which was imposed in 2016, and added a consecutive 18 months for the more recent frauds.

He said the case met the criteria for a compensation order but noted that the defendant had paid none of the previous £12,500. He argued that if he made a further such order 'it would simply raise [the victims'] expectations' and may damage their prospect of obtaining compensation via other means.

So the judge ruled that making a further order would be 'a fruitless exercise' but made it clear he did not discourage the victims from taking other steps to get compensation.

Gillett will also have to pay a victim surcharge.