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Agents alerted over Harvey Nichols mystery man

08 October 2008
Written by rosalind renshaw

Agents are asked to be on their alert for a possible scam after a lettings office, Aquarius Homes in Bath, was approached by a man purporting to be renting property on behalf of trendy fashion store Harvey Nichols.

Staff describe him as tall, good looking, well dressed and in his mid-fifties. He gave his name as David Witchell and said he was interested in a particularly prestigious property.

He was keen for paperwork to be sent to him but the branch rightly insisted on a letter of intent signed by two directors, transfer of monies and the contact name at Harvey Nichols.

It turned out that Harvey Nicholls had never heard from him.

Staff at Aquarius Homes believe he may have been interested in the property, either to re-let it or use it as his own base for some kind of business activity.

By chance, Aquarius Homes subsequently found out about another local company which had been scammed by a man called David Watmuff.

The mobile phone number of Witchell and Watmuff was the same.

A man called David Watmuff was involved in a complicated fraud at the Prince of Wales’ model development, Poundbury, and launched businesses whilst being a struck-off director.

He was sent to prison after the judge at his trial described him as a Walter Mitty style conman.

Comments

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    He is serving another prison sentence as of 29.10.2010 in HMP Bullingdon for 4 cases of fraud carring 4 months, 12 months, 12 months and 12 months (to be served concurrently as 12 months)See the latest postings for more details! So much for building a "new successful and honest life" that he refers to in December 2008 in "how David Dropped the Dead Donkey below"! Once a crook always a crook!

    • 30 November 2010 12:54 PM
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    can anyone tell me where watmuff is now?

    • 24 February 2010 22:24 PM
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    How David 'Dropped The Dead Donkey'

    David moved to Bath and bought a donkey from a farmer for £100.00.

    The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day.

    The next day he drove up and said, sorry David, but I have some bad news, the donkey died.'


    David replied, 
'Well, then just give me my money back.'


    The farmer said, 
'Can't do that. I went and spent it already.'


    David said, 
'Ok, then, just bring me the dead donkey.'


    The farmer asked, 
'What ya gonna do with him?'


    David said, 
'I'm going to raffle him off.'


    The farmer said, 
'You can't raffle off a dead donkey!'


    David said, 
'Sure I can watch me. I just won't tell anybody he's dead.'


    A month later, the farmer met up with David and asked, 
'What happened with that dead donkey?'


    David said, 
'I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at £2 a piece and made a profit of £998.00.'


    The farmer said, 
'Didn't anyone complain?'


    David said, 
'Just the guy who won. So I gave him his £2 back.'


    David went to jail for three and a half years.

    He's out of jail now and building a new successful and honest life… it's a pity some people can't move on.


    This best sums up the activities leading up to the arrest and conviction of David, however, the financials need to be multiplied by a factor of 100, but the principal is very accurate.

    • 18 December 2008 14:23 PM
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    Have a look at http://www.aquarius-homes.com. They claim to be part of a mysterious unnamed national network or as they put it a "UK-Wide Network of independent but associated Letting & Managing Agents." I am too, it is called Yellow Pages!

    • 09 October 2008 08:58 AM
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    Just goes to show - never believe all you hear and see. There are some pretty convincing conmen out there -most likely doing it for bravado(and money). As for Rightmove - how did agents exist before Rightmove. My Estate Agency at the time had 4 years headstart on Rightmove - the internet was a brilliant invention and should be used to its maximum potential.

    • 08 October 2008 01:20 AM
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    Why not join a TRULY FREE property portal such as PropertyFoyer.com? We did and are getting business from them. It is FREE to advertise and FREE to receive responses via phone or email directly from prospective buyers and tenants.

    • 08 October 2008 12:21 PM
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    The current climate is not going to last forever, Rightmove has proven to be cost effective for years so why is everyone withdrawing? Suddenly everyone thinks that the Sh****ty little sites will bring them business when the market picks up? NO NO NO, Stop acting an impluse and think long term for your clients or stop being an estate agent. We have statistics weekly to prove that the small, cheap sites are beyond useless, and no, I`m not a rightmove employee!!!!!! happy 2009

    • 08 October 2008 11:27 AM
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    I do not agree with this Rightmove strategy. I think agents need to REMOVE all stickers and leaflet pertaining to ALL portals that charge for listings. Rightmove is a rip off and agents should withdraw totally, subscription based listing portals is a dead market for agents and all agents should embrace free sites.

    • 08 October 2008 11:17 AM
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