Dale Wales: The Window Cleaning Fraudster

Driffield fraudster Dale Wales jailed for blatant home town window cleaning scam: A Driffield (North Humberside UK) fraudster has been jailed for 10 months for attempting to obtain money from householders for window cleaning work in what his own solicitor described as a "blatant scam". Beverley magistrates were told Dale Christian Wales "may have looked more professional if he had a ladder" as he committed his latest series of offences. Wales, 26, of Curlew Close, pleaded guilty to five charges of fraud by false representation when he appeared in court via videolink on Friday, having initially denied the allegations at an earlier hearing.
Wales was already serving an existing three-year jail term, from which he had been released on licence on July 3 – two months before the latest offences were committed. He has since been recalled to prison. The court heard the latest offences had all taken place on the afternoon of September 1 in Driffield, where Wales had approached five separate properties near his home.
On each occasion, he asked the occupiers for money in payment for alleged window cleaning work, although no payments were made. Mitigating solicitor John Seagrave said Wales had initially lived in a bail hostel in Hull after he was released from prison and had then moved to a friend's flat in Birmingham, before returning to Driffield.
He said: "He would say the disruptions that occurred in his life following leaving the hostel left him short of money and he was tempted to try this blatant scam to try to get some money together." One of the victims positively identified Wales during an identification parade at Driffield Police Station last Thursday night. Vanessa Crossley, prosecuting, told the bench Wales should be given credit for entering timely guilty pleas. But she added: "That said, you have five separate offences of fraud perpetrated in a close proximity against householders who are clearly targeted, some of whom are elderly and, in consequence, vulnerable."
She later said the victims had been targeted on the basis of the area in which they lived. The court also heard the offences bore a "striking similarity" to previous crimes, for which Wales had been sentenced to three years' imprisonment in February last year. But Mr Seagrave said the victims had been targeted "completely randomly" by his client. "They just happened to live on a housing estate in Driffield relatively close to where he lives," he said. "Certainly it wasn't a case where any planning or forethought had gone into it. He was not even in possession of a chamois leather. "Perhaps if he had a bike with a ladder, it may have looked more professional." Mr Seagrave criticised the Crown Prosecution Service, for using a strategy of "charge first, get the evidence later, frankly". But Miss Crossley said proper procedures were followed and Wales had been a "reasonable and reliable suspect" for the offences.