A SERIAL fraudster was condemned by his victims as “evil” for the cruel way he cheated them out of thousands of pounds during a sophisticated scam.

The “once-in-a-lifetime holidays” being offered seemed just too good to be true and sadly they were.

They were all a figment of Oliver’s “fantasy life” after he built an alter ego.

He was even dressing up in a cruise captain’s uniform when he met his victims to make everything all the more plausible.

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Prosecutor Andrew Davies said Oliver, 44, was short of money having amassed gambling debts of £136,000 in just a year.

Jody Oliver following his arrest by Gwent Police in 2019

He was also maxed out on high interest loans.

The conman saw an opportunity to crawl out of the hole he’d made for himself when he moved to Newport after meeting Rhys Burgess.

Oliver has destroyed our faith in human nature

Oliver was leading a secret life and didn’t tell his boyfriend he was a married man with three children.

He got away with £320,000 and left a trial of destruction in his wake.

Some of those he targeted were pensioners who lost the savings they had been building up for years.

As Oliver was being sentenced at Newport Crown Court after admitting fraud some of his victims were able to tell him how he’d shattered their lives.

It was also not the first time the defendant had been convicted of fraud.

In 2004 he conned former world champion rally driver Colin McRae into believing Coca-Cola was offering him a £3m sponsorship deal and he was convicted of a VAT scam three years ago.

In frank, powerful and eloquent statements, his current victims were able to express their pain and suffering before he was jailed for six years.

Christine Evans came to court and read out hers to his face.

She said: “I have not told my sons how much money I’ve lost as a result of the dealings of Mr Oliver.

“But with me it’s not just about the money – I feel responsible for getting (others) involved.

“We are all hard working people and for someone like Mr Oliver to do this, to do it to so many people with no feelings, makes my blood boil.

“I still have very bad days myself for getting my family and friends involved with this evil man.

“Hopefully this will be the last time he will be able to do this.”

Mr Davies read out the statement of Marshall Goddard who said: “I feel that the whole episode has had a profound effect on my wife’s health and she now gets very anxious about little things that have never bothered her before.

“As we are OAPs we can ill afford to lose this amount of money and it means a lot to us.”

Moira Mercer’s statement read: “It is difficult to express the range of emotions we had when learning the extent of Oliver’s activities.

“Anger at being duped so easily, humiliation in talking to others about financial loss and sadness that an individual can look you in your eye while knowing they are stealing people’s hard-earned money.

“This was the money we had saved over many years to give us holiday enjoyment and for our retirement beyond.

“He has destroyed our faith in human nature.”