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As her former lover was jailed for 12 months yesterday (Thursday, 15 March), high-flying pharmaceuticals company manager Angela Miller made it clear she was disappointed at the length of the sentence - and hopes her experience will act as a warning to other women.
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Pharmaceuticals company manager Angela Miller Speaking through a friend at Cambridge Crown Court, her message was: "There'll be no online dating in future.
You can never be sure who you are dealing with. In this case, it was a freeloader and a liar."
Thirty-eight-year-old Ms Miller, a regulatory affairs manager who spends periods abroad with her job, hoped she had found love when she met Chey Charlesworth online in November 2005.
Within weeks, the couple had developed what Ms Miller believed was a strong and trusting relationship.
She invited him for Christmas after he said he had nowhere to go and in January, he moved into her home at Collier Close, Ely.
But between February and April, Ms Miller was twice contacted by her bank and told she was overdrawn. At first, she thought she had just overspent, and when she asked for statements to be sent, she did not receive any.
When she finally did see a statement last May, she realised her credit card had been plundered to the tune of almost £7,000.
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Chey Charlesworth It turned out that Charlesworth, of Stoke Ferry, Norfolk, had begun stealing her cash - and hiding her bank statements - soon after he moved in.
As Charlesworth, 38, a former chef, stood in the dock after admitting six charges of theft, two counts of falsifying records and asked for 19 further offences to be taken into consideration, Ms Miller was shocked to learn that he has been a fraudster and a cheat for years.
"This man has been dishonest for a long period of time. It is what he does," said Mara Maciejoswki, for the prosecution.
Outlining Charlesworth's previous offences of deception dating back to 1988, she said his last conviction, in 2005, involved stealing, and using, a credit card that belonged to friend.
After sentencing, Ms Miller's friend - a confidante who met her through their mutual charity work and who had warned her that she was suspicious of Charlesworth - said it had been hoped the cheat would be behind bars for longer.
She said: "Hopefully, all the emotional turmoil she has gone through will act as a lesson to other women. It is not easy meeting people when you have a demanding job and little time. But she has found out to her cost that online dating is not the answer.
"Angela is one of the most generous people I know and the irony is that if this man had said he needed money, she would have given it to him."
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