A romance fraudster who deceived multiple men into funding her luxury lifestyle by claiming she was about to inherit a vast fortune has pleaded guilty to a series of theft and fraud offences. Gemma Kingsley, 50, admitted more than a dozen charges after a court heard she spent years fabricating relationships and financial promises to exploit her victims.
Kingsley, described in court as a model, spent four years weaving what prosecutors called a “web of lies,” convincing men she was on the brink of receiving a multimillion-pound inheritance. Swindon Crown Court was told she used the promise of future wealth to persuade her partners to cover the cost of cars, furniture, hotel stays, dental bills and wedding expenses, all while enjoying an extravagant lifestyle she could not afford.
Between January 2016 and January 2018, Kingsley produced forged letters purportedly from solicitors and other professionals to support her claims of a huge inheritance. In one case, she told a victim she was due to receive a £42 million inheritance from her grandfather, with £16 million allegedly ready to be paid out. Believing he would soon be reimbursed, the man paid for a new home’s furniture, cleared debts, covered dental bills and made payments toward a wedding that never took place. Relatives had even booked flights from Australia to attend the ceremony. Court documents stated the victim lost more than £100,000 as a result.
In 2019, Kingsley began another relationship, again claiming an imminent inheritance. That victim helped fund large deposits on a Land Rover and a Porsche and paid for high-end hotel stays. In two further brief relationships later that year, she repeatedly used her victims’ personal and company bank cards without their knowledge to make purchases.
The court also heard that Kingsley carried out theft and fraud against a range of other victims, including solicitor’s firms, lawyers and a bank, by falsifying documents and letters. Wiltshire police said they first received a report in 2019 that she had fraudulently used the bank details of her mother’s friend to pay for accommodation at a luxury farm stay near Chippenham. Several investigations from other police forces were later consolidated into a single case.
On Wednesday, Kingsley, of Beadnell, Northumberland, admitted six counts of theft, four counts of fraud by false representation, two counts of using a false instrument, and one count of possessing an article for use in fraud. She was remanded in custody and is due to be sentenced on March 25.
Kingsley had previously failed to attend court and was arrested on the Isle of Skye last June after being stopped for speeding. Detective Constable Melissa Pope of Wiltshire police’s fraud team said Kingsley had deliberately exploited emotional vulnerabilities. She said the offender manipulated her victims’ feelings, causing severe emotional distress as well as long-term financial and psychological harm.
