KEY POINTS:
A conman who has racked up 104 convictions for dishonesty in 19 years pleaded guilty today to further deceptions and theft involving more than $40,000.
Mark David Lines, 35, befriended women, formed relationships with them, then borrowed large amounts of cash, promising to repay them from funds he said he was about to receive, Christchurch District Court was told today.
Lines, unemployed, used computers to generate receipts showing money being paid into his victims' bank accounts, but inevitably the cash would never arrive, or banks would withdraw the sums because Lines' bank account was empty.
In court today, Lines pleaded guilty to nine charges through counsel Paul Johnson and police withdrew a further three counts.
Lines admitted seven charges of obtaining money by deception - each liable to a maximum seven years' jail - one charge of using a document and one of theft.
He had earlier pleaded guilty to three similar charges.
Lines, arrested in Wellington in April, has been remanded in custody since his first court appearance here on May 2.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Paul Brocas told the court Lines met a woman in Christchurch in December 2004.
She began lending him money for rent, car repairs living expenses, diving equipment and recreation after he promised he would repay her from an ACC settlement he was expecting.
By August 2005, their relationship was over, but the woman had spent some $4500 on Lines without any repayments.
In December, the same year Lines met an Englishwoman backpacker and they travelled together in the north of the South Island.
She agreed to lend him money on the promise that he would transfer cash to her account.
Lines used a computer to generate a receipt showing that cash would be transferred into the woman's account after midnight. He later wrote a note promising to pay the woman $62,000.
She continued to let him use her credit card and he racked up some $20,000.
Mr Brocas said Lines had promised to return to the United Kingdom with the woman, but when her tourist visa expired she left the country alone and Lines remained here.
Lines befriended another Christchurch woman in January this year, borrowing $7600 on the pretext that he was receiving large sums of money regularly as the victim of historic sex abuse.
In February the woman and Lines went to a Christchurch car sales yard where Lines took possession of a $36,000 high-performance car, promising to pay her $200 a week. No payments were ever made.
He later had mag wheels and $5000 of stereo equipment fitted to the car by producing a receipt showing funds transferred into the car company's bank account. The amount was withdrawn by the bank the following day because Lines had insufficient funds.
Mr Brocas said the woman had since recovered the vehicle and was still repaying a finance company.
Lines borowed $3640 from another complainant in February after claiming he was expecting a payout from a sex abuse case settlement.
Mr Brocas told the court reparations of more than $40,000 was sought from Lines for all complainants.
Mr Johnson told Judge John Bisphan that Lines was "anxious" to be sentenced and suggested the matter could be dealt with without going to a crown sentencing session that is usually for more serious offending.
But Judge Bisphan noted Lines' 104 previous dishonesty convictions over 19 years of offending.
"Prison is inevitable," he said.
Lines was remanded in custody for reparation and pre-sentence reports to a crown sentencing session on October 5.
- NZPA
