Romance fraudster jailed for two years

A man has been jailed for conning a Portslade woman out of £11,000 in a years-long romance scam.

Andrew Cosham, 57, first met the woman on a dating site in 2019. But after arranging to meet, he blocked her number.

A year later, he messaged her out of the blue and after convincing her to give him a second chance, they met up in spring 2021.

By September, he was staying with her so often she gave him a set of keys and introduced him to her family. It was then that he first asked her for £200 – and then immediately ghosted her again.

Then the following summer, he got in touch once more, spinning her a story of an ongoing divorce and convincing her to try yet again.

He all but moved in with her, saying they would get married and buy somewhere together once his bank account containing £3 million was unfrozen after his divorce.

The pair went to multiple house viewings together and the victim even paid for the survey of one property – but Cosham would always claim there were issues with the houses, and they would look for another.

Cosham, of Milne Way, Newport, Isle of Wight appeared before Recorder John Hardy at Brighton Crown Court on Monday (16 February).

He told her lies about his financial needs and that he needed money to help his sister who was in poor health.

Using his elderly sister’s bank account to obtain the money from the victim he would withdraw large sums to spend on other things. She was not involved with the offending.

Cosham lied to the victim about needing money to repay council tax, he claimed to have debt with a storage company and with his phone provider.

He claimed he needed funds to pay a fines and costs following an altercation in Brighton.

The victim even received texts from Cosham’s supposed solicitor advising that further fees needed to be paid to release him from court. His ‘solicitor’ assured her that his bank account would be unfrozen in the next few days.

Cosham convinced the victim to give him over £11,000 all under the guise of consistently promising to pay her back once his bank account was unfrozen.

He ghosted her and never repaid the money.

At this point, the victim called in the police. The investigation was complex in part due to the myriad of lies Cosham had told the victim about himself.

However, officers persevered to identify and arrest the suspect in November 2023 and finally charged with a single charge of fraud by false representation in September 2025.

In October, Cosham, of Milne Way, Isle of Wight, pleaded guilty and on Monday (16 February) he appeared at Brighton Crown Court.

He was jailed for two years and ordered to pay a surcharge of £187. A restraining order was also made to ban Cosham from being in direct or indirect contact with the victim and from attending her home address.

Detective Sergeant Rodney Davis said: “Romance fraud is a particularly cruel offence.

“The financial loss can have lasting consequences, but the emotional impact from the extensive manipulation by fraudsters can be truly devastating.

“We will work tirelessly to ensure perpetrators are brought to justice, and I am pleased to see this offender held accountable for his actions.

“I’d like to stress that romance fraud is never the victim’s fault and encourage anyone who has been the victim of romance fraud to report it to us.”