Me myself and

Chapter Three
The Widow Moira first came to John’s notice at a party held by a former army officer who had served with John during the War. Moira’s husband was a senior official at the war office. He had held the rank of Lt Colonel before dying of a stroke. John avoided meeting her at this party because there were people who could give provenance to his past, especially the army.
He had looked at Moira’s wealth which was staggering. Her husband had been on the board of several companies and had shares in many of them. John decided to meet Moira in a casual way. Moira was around 48 years old quite attractive with a full figure. She was able to keep herself in trim with her horse riding and golf.
John was a great horseman but his golf was terrible. It would be through horse riding that John would insinuate himself into Moira’s life.
Moira belonged to a very old and established equestrian club in East Sussex. She had several horses, some she did not ride herself but were ridden by professional equestrian riders in show jumping competitions. John joined the club and was instantly remarked upon by the female staff. This dashing officer-type man was the talk of all the lady members. He gave himself the rank of major and referred to himself as such. His story was that he had been an officer in the cavalry during the war. His military rank and knowledge of horses soon came to the notice of Moira.
John had even bought his own saddle which was handmade and very expensive. All these attributes did not go unnoticed and before long he became the main topic of conversation in the equestrian clubhouse.
Three weeks after joining the club, John turned up in his silver Triumph 1800 roadster ready to take out one of the many horses he had ridden. His favourite ride was a mare called ‘Toula’ she was a Cremello aged five and stood at fifteen hands. John knew that Moira owned this mare and it would be a natural and spontaneous way for them to meet.
There was some casual conversation when they did meet, mainly about the weather and the ground condition. They gradually, over a period of about a week, opened up to each other about likes and dislikes. Her knowledge of music was prodigious from Thomas Tallis to Shostakovich. She also played the piano and had some classical training. John was impressed by her rounded education and spent many hours with her discussing the arts. Moira lived in Brighton which was very convenient for John as he had a flat there. Moira’s house was huge, with ten bedrooms all with en-suits. It was not long before Moira fell hopelessly in love with John, she would have done anything for him. Moira had never met a man like him, handsome, caring, intelligent, and wealthy, which removed him as a gigolo or wealth seeker.
He had showered her with jewellery worth hundreds of pounds (from the Riffifi job) which made him look generous; she really believed that John loved her. John discovered that Moira’s estate was worth something in the region of £400,000.00 (7.4million 2015). They took a short holiday together in the south of France; it was there that Moira hinted at marriage. John knew he had her and would now proceed with his plan to relieve her of some of her money. There was a rule about taking money from rich women. John would never take so much as to make the women feel that she had been robbed. It was subtle amounts, a loss yes, but an acceptable loss. Ironically enough, there were women who he had relieved of modest amounts of money who were still friends with him.
This is what made John such a successful confidence trickster, he was not greedy, he never over-reached or took risks and he had the benefit of knowing dangerous and violent people; this installed a kind of confidence when tackling unreasonable men.
The only fly in the ointment as far as Moira was concerned was her brother Cyril, who was also her accountant. John had met him at a small party held by Moira with her friends from the W.I. John took an instant dislike to him which became mutual.
Cyril was jealous of John’s good looks, intellect, and how the women fought to be near him. John came up with a plan to use Cyril to gain access to Moira’s money; he would need the services of a pretty young girl. That girl would be Millie. John explained to Millie what was required to carry out the plan to use Cyril in his deception of the widow Moira. John gave Millie a blood capsule and told her under no circumstances was she to let Cyril see inside her mouth after the capsule has been broken. The plan was set to start on the following Saturday at about four pm. Cyril left his golf club with his playing partner and he headed for the car park next to the railway station. He said goodbye to his playing partner and proceeded to his car.
Cyril described what happened next to the club pro, where he had taken the girl to attend to her injuries. He heard a scream and saw a large man wrestling with this very slight and attractive girl. He ran to her rescue after seeing this man hit her. The man ran off when he saw Cyril approaching. The girl was bleeding from the mouth and Cyril helped her to her feet and escorted her to the golf- club- lounge. The girl said that the man in question had tried to rob her of her hand-bag. Cyril called the police who arrived about thirty minutes later. The police took a statement and description from the girl. Her injury was not serious and the police did not catch the assailant. The assailant was supplied by Bill and had played out his part very convincingly.
Millie was wearing a cotton dress which buttoned-up the front. She was asked by John to undo a couple of the buttons in the confusion but only if the opportunity arose. Millie with her slight figure and stunning good looks had spent some time refining her hair and make-up before going to the golf club. Millie used a couple of small tailor’s-pins in place of the last two buttons. Whilst she struggled with the robber the pins came out revealing her shapely legs. Millie when on the ground gave Cyril a very short peek at her underwear and suspenders.
Cyril was infatuated and excited by her femininity and cat-like qualities.
This was the first part of the plan, and judging by Cyril’s hang-dog expressions when looking at Millie it had worked.
He invited Millie to have dinner with him that evening at the Grand Hotel Brighton; he would meet her at the bar at seven O’clock. This information was passed on to John who would put phase two of the plan into action.
The only unsavoury part of this operation was the fact that Cyril was married and had two children. John had wrestled with this fact but concluded; if Cyril was a devoted and loving husband, he would not cheat on his wife. John did not wish to contemplate what would happen to the children. He need not have worried on that score. Cyril after the caper did return to his wife.
The second part of the operation was for Millie, whilst in the hotel she would bump-into John and say hello. She acted surprised to find that Cyril already knew John. Millie’s story would be that she met John on the train from London and he had struck up a conversation with her. Eventually he would tell Millie about his holiday in the south of France and indicate how rich he was, all to impress her. There was one other thing that John had said which had impressed her.
John had said to her that a mine he owned had discovered copper ore and he had just received the geologist report which confirming this along with an estimate of the amount of ore present. John boasted that it would make him super rich...Cyril believed Millie; he had after all some knowledge of John through his sister Moira, she had told Cyril how wonderful John was and above all how rich he was. Moira’s statement about John had alleviated any doubts he had about John being a fortune hunter; Millie’s tale had just reinforced that belief. Millie and Cyril settled down to a well presented dinner interrupted with small talk and gestures of affection. Cyril could not take his eyes of Millie.
He was constantly taking her hand and speaking about how she should be a film star or at least a fashion model. Millie was instructed by John to lead him on by being flirtatious and coy... John also added that she was not to sleep with him until he could arrange some witness or witnesses to Cyril’s indiscretions.
John started poking around Brighton looking for anything he could find out about Cyril. He discovered that Cyril was a golf fanatic and a ‘scratch’ player. He had pumped Moira about her brother; she said that he was a boring man with one interest...Golf! It then occurred to John that Cyril knew Millie was fresh in town, Millie had told Cyril at the Grand Hotel that she had no friends in Brighton, this may have given Cyril the confidence to start seeing Millie furtively on a regular basis. John decided to use Moira as witness to Cyril’s indiscretions. He would take Moira to dinner at ‘The White Swan Inn.’ John told Millie to get Cyril to book a room at this inn. John apologised to Millie knowing that she would have to have sex with him, Millie reassured John that it was just business and she didn’t mind.
John had shown the geologist report to Moira who was pleased that John had been successful in his mining venture. This was all part of the plan to sow the seeds of the mine and Cyril’s adultery into Moira’s thoughts. The plan went well. Moira and John were having dinner when Millie and Cyril appeared from the upstairs entrance.
Moira knew that this entrance was used by the guest staying at the Inn. John acted as if to distract Moira from seeing them even though he knew that she had. Moira was distressed at what she had seen and asked John if they could leave. John and Moira left the restaurant without being seen and headed for Moira’s home. John comforted Moira as best he could, he held Moira in his arms when she broke down crying, John was now living with her.
The next day Moira had calmed down; at the right moment John put another aspect of his plan into action. He told Moira that there was a minor partner in the South African mine who he had sold a portion to after the war, when he was struggling financially.
That partner had been informed of the copper strike and had offered his share of the mine for the sum of £15,000 in cash. John explained to Moira that this person was shady and may be wanted by the police. The fact that he wanted the money in cash was not a problem as long as he signed over his share of the mine. Within two days John had £10,000 in cash. The money was put in a hat-box belonging to Moira; John lied about the amount saying there was £15,000. John then asked Moira to put the money somewhere safe until his partner from London arrived.
Cyril was now under the complete control of Millie. He had left his wife and was planning to run away and start a new life with her. The next part of the plan was to get Millie and Cyril into Moira’s house. John told Millie to ask Cyril to meet his sister at her house to discuss his intentions and what he intended to do about his wife and children. Cyril had a joint bank account with his wife and was without any ready cash to run away with.
His compulsion and lack of money were pointed out by Moira and John. He declared his love for Millie and intended regardless, to leave with her. Millie told Cyril while she was out shopping in town, that she saw John leaving his bank with a package. She said that John saw her and they started to chat. She said John had invited her to have a coffee and they talked for about ten minutes.
Within that time John had boasted about the mine and how he was going to buy his partners share for fifteen thousand pounds in cash. He carried on showing off to the point where he even showed the money to her. Millie told Cyril she would not run away with him without money, she suggested stealing the money John had taken to Moira’s house. Cyril was so taken by this women he would have done anything to avoid losing her. They asked if they could stay the night at Moira’s house. Moira asked John what he thought, he said it was her brother and as a sister, she had a duty to help him. It is easy to see what happened next. John spiked Moira’s drink to make her sleep.
Millie then crept into Moira’s bedroom and stole the money. John had told her where the money was and to leave and head for Liverpool.
Millie convinced Cyril that John would not call the police; Moira would not allow her brother to go to prison over such a moderate amount of money.
The following morning John informed Moira that his money had been stolen, but because of his love for Moira he did not want to see her upset, he added, it just wasn’t worth £15,000 to punish her brother with prison and bring her family in to disrepute. These words made Moira feel much better and convinced her that John really did love her. Without John knowing, later that day Moira went to her bank and withdrew £15,000.00 pounds, telling John that it was her brother and under the circumstances, her responsibility.
Millie arrived in Liverpool with Cyril at around six o’clock. Millie had kept the money with her knowing that if Cyril counted it he may smell a rat. At the first opportunity she telephoned Bill in London to say everything had gone to plan.
Bill had already spoken to John and she was told to take the money and return to London. John told Moira that his mining- partner could not make it to Brighton and he would have to go to London to settle the buy-out.
Later that evening Cyril telephone Moira to say Millie had ran off. He did not mention the money. Cyril finally came to his senses and realised what a fool he had been.
Moira told Cyril that he must go home to his wife and children and that she had already spoken to his wife who agreed to forgive him. There was a tacit understanding between Moira and Cyril that the whole episode would be forgotten...The money was never mentioned although Cyril suspected that his sister had reimbursed John. (£15,000 =2015 £287,000) This was later confirmed by John himself when they met later at a party held by Moira. Cyril and his sister blamed Millie or whatever her name was, for the robbery and deception.