Man who regularly collected money along London taxi ranks from cabbies convicted of charity fraud
Updated: Jul 23, 2020
A man who fraudulently obtained money from a mother and her daughter was convicted of his crimes at Inner London Crown Court on Tuesday, 21 July.
Kevin Cole, 55 of Mitcham, London who also goes by the name of Peter Penfold, was found guilty by a jury of two counts of fraud by false representation.
He was sentenced to repay the victims the sum of £400 and four months' imprisonment, suspended for 12 months.
Cole was regularly seen dressed in a ‘banana suit’ collecting money along taxi ranks for charity.
The conviction follows a four year investigation by the Economic Crime Unit within the Met’s Central Specialists Crime Command.
The court heard that Cole had been contacted by an old school friend, the victim, on Facebook in 2016, where he falsely claimed to be a manager of a charity. In reality, Cole had only worked for the charity as a volunteer collector and was only entitled to receive costs for travel and food, not to receive any further money.
Between February and March 2016, Cole told the victim, who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis, that if she provided a charitable donation of £300 to the charity she would be eligible to receive a £30,000 home improvements grant. The charity has never provided grants for home improvements.
The victim was given a fraudulent receipt in exchange for her £300 donation.
Cole then also befriended the victim’s daughter who was aged 19 at the time. He agreed to employ the daughter as his receptionist at a different charity if she left her place of employment and paid £100 for two sets of uniform.
She resigned from her place of work and was given a start date by Cole. The charity she believed she was going to work for had in fact closed two years previously.
Cole was interviewed by police on 10 January 2017, where he replied mostly “no comment” to the majority of the questions put to him. One response that he did provide was: “You prove that I offered her anything, I haven’t written anything and I haven’t signed nothing. No comment.”
He was charged with two counts of fraud by false representation on 27 June 2017.
During the trial which started on Monday, 13 July it was revealed that Cole (aka Peter Penfold) also promotes himself as ‘The Banana Man’ – a persona he dressed up as to collect money for charity. He also claimed he had collected £1.2 million for charity.
During the trial, despite having provided a ‘no comment’ response in interview, Kevin Cole admitted to being given the money by both the mother and daughter.
He also admitted in court to being arrested numerous times for fraud, making the court aware of his 22 previous convictions.
Investigating officer, PC Carl Blissett, said: “I was disgusted that anyone could take £300 while promising to dramatically change someone’s life knowing that it was no more than hot air.
"He used the names of former charities to entice the victims to supply him with funds, raising their hopes that they might vastly improve their circumstances.
“How Cole was able to sleep at night knowing what he had done to a vulnerable mother and daughter beggars belief and it is gratifying to know that he has been made to answer for his crimes.
“The mother’s hopes of a better life were dashed and her daughter gave up her employment for a job that never existed – this clearly demonstrates how devious and self-serving Cole truly is.
“Whilst this was a long and drawn out investigation and court process, it was worth every hour invested. No one should have their hard earned cash taken away from them in this callous way and I hope this outcome serves as a message to anyone committing fraud that not only do we take these allegations seriously, but we will find those responsible and hold them to account.”
