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February 19, 2015

While police uphold harassment notice against reporter, CPS declines to charge conwoman he exposed

By Dominic Ponsford

The CPS has declined to prosecute the conwoman exposed by a reporter after police upheld a harassment complaint against him.

Gareth Davies sent Deelam Desai two emails and paid her one doorstep visit as he investigated claims she had conned men out of thousands of pounds.

Davies found that one victim gave her £1,900 by inventing a fake story about a sick child needing an operation.

In March last year Davies was served with a Prevention of Harassment letter by police, which advised him to desist from contacting Desai again and warned him he could be arrested if he did so.

Earlier this month Croydon police rejected a complaint from Davies and refused to rescind the letter.

Inspector Claire Robbins said she felt Davies “did go beyond what was reasonable”.

Desai is currently serving a 30-month prison sentence for another scam.

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Victims of the activities exposed by Davies have been told by police that they are going to take no action against her.

According to the Croydon Advertiser, Detective Constable Stephen Hall wrote: “It is with sadness I bring you news of the final decision from the Crown Prosecution Service. They have decided there will be no further action against Neelam Desai on all matters.”

DC Hall added: “She received a 30 month custodial sentence, and was unlikely to receive any more should these new offences have been tried.

“A financial investigation revealed she has no assets whatsoever, and therefore no punitive punishment was possible either.”

One victim of Desai’s told the paper: “What sort of message does this send out to victims of crime?

“How can it be right that she cannot be prosecuted because she has already gone to prison for something else?

“After what happened to me I was told that I wouldn’t get my money back. I took that on the chin because I thought she would at least get punished for it. Now I’m told she’s going to get away with it.

“This has opened my eyes about the legal system in this country. Even if you do know who the criminal is, they don’t do anything. It’s going to deter victims from coming forward.”

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