The judge said Sajad Hussain had “pulled whatever emotional lever you could to extract money from your victims”
By Steve Mellen & Clara Bullock
BBC News
A man who manipulated three woman into giving him a total of more than £200,000 has been sentenced to five years and four months in jail.
Sajad Hussain, 45, from Haydon End, Swindon, admitted five counts of fraud at an earlier hearing.
The offences spanned from 2013 to 2020, after he had met the women on dating sites. They all believed they were in exclusive relationships with him.
One victim said she had “lost all feelings of confidence and self-worth”.
‘Web of lies’
Sentencing Hussain at Swindon Crown Court, Judge Jason Taylor KC said: “You spun a web of lies, you pulled whatever emotional lever you could to extract money from your victims, using them as human piggy banks.
“You were cold-hearted, tossing them aside when they were no longer of use to you.”
Over the course of seven years, Hussain defrauded the three women from the West Midlands of more than £204,000.
The court heard that in 2018, he got married but at the same time he met three different victims online.
Image source, Wiltshire Police
Hussain’s victims believed they were in exclusive relationships with him
‘I did love him’ – victim
One of Hussain’s victims told the BBC that she had helped him financially as her feelings for him were real.
“Imagine sitting next to someone who, at that time, you thought you love, knowing that they are in pain and there is something you have to do to help them out,” she said.
“That’s exactly what I did.
“I lent him money to help him out and it was always because he’s going to be returning the money back to me within a matter of weeks, and we are going to be together.
Hussain fed the women a string of lies, including that he was a police officer, his mother had breast cancer, he needed rent money and that he needed funds to pay for his father’s care – even though his father had already passed away.
He told them all that he loved them and promised marriage and children.
Two of the victim’s statements were read out in court by the prosecution, while the third was read by the victim herself.
Between them, the women had taken out loans, given him their parents’ life savings and sold their gold and jewellery to give him the cash.
Gambling habit
They talked about the huge emotional damage they had suffered, adding they had been left with anxiety, depression and post traumatic stress disorder.
When the police arrested Hussain in October 2020 they found betting slips and a small Nokia phone in the boot of his car, with two of the victims’ numbers on it.
The court was told Hussain had a substantial gambling habit and from 2013 to 2020 lost £135,000.
Hussain pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud on 17 April.
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