'Prolific, premeditated and unremorseful' - Sussex fraudster convicted after victims lose more than £1.1 million in jewellery scam

Sussex Police said 49-year-old James Charles – also known as James Goatley – ran a ‘large-scale fraud operation’. This was via his companies Olympia Mayfair and National Gold Buyers, police said.

Charles – of Roman Crescent, Southwick – defrauded numerous victims of over £1,159,000 during a two-year period between August 2022 and 2024, police said.

A police statement read: “Charles deceived victims through his company Olympia Mayfair which he advertised as providing specialist services reselling and repairing high-value jewellery, watches, and precious metals.

“The company was advertised on a reputable website to give the illusion of trustworthiness, and Charles even made large payments to search engines to ensure his company ranked highly in search results.

“Victims were encouraged to complete questionnaires detailing the valuable items they were looking to sell.”

Upon completion of the form, Charles would contact the victims and ‘arrange to meet them at a rental office or their homes’, police said.

The force added: “When they met in person, he would deceive the victims who agreed to hand over their items on the understanding that they would be reimbursed once he had sold or repaired the items minus a small commission fee.

“Many of the victims’ items were sold, however despite his promise to reimburse them taking only a small commission, dozens of victims received only a small fraction of the sale price, and some were never reimbursed at all.

“Charles was arrested on February 11m 2024, however due to the high volume of victims coming forward, he was placed on police bail while extensive enquiries took place.”

While on bail, Charles ‘wasted no time in returning his offending’, police said.

They explained: “He created a new company, National Gold Buyers and continued deceiving and defrauding further victims.

“Charles was arrested again six months later on August 30, 2024.

“Following a lengthy and complex investigation conducted by the Sussex Police Economic Crime Unit, Charles was initially charged with 24 counts of fraud by false representation and two counts of money laundering offences connected to both companies on February 27 this year.

“Following further legal hearings, the fraud charges were amalgamated into four counts of fraudulent trading.”

Police Charles was remanded into custody until his six-week trial.

He appeared at Southwark Crown Court for a six-week trial commencing on October 5.

On October 12, he ‘pleaded guilty to the four counts of fraudulent trading’, police said.

“The following day Charles was also convicted of the same offences by the jury,” Sussex Police revealed.

"It was ordered by the judge that the two money laundering offences will lie on the file.”

Charles will remain in custody until his sentencing on November 5, police confirmed.

Detective Constable Graham Gray, the officer in charge of the investigation, said: “Charles’ offending was prolific, premeditated and unremorseful.

“The scale of his deception was vast and the impact on victims cannot be underestimated.

“As this case moves into the final stages of court proceedings, I’d like to thank everyone who supported this extensive and complex investigation.”