TOP STORY: Conman stole hearts, cash

William Franklin became caught up in his lies. He was a fireman, millionaire property developer, had a helicopter and had inherited $22 million from a Maori Trust. But, in fact, he was a conman whom police said had mastered the art of meeting vulnerable women on internet dating websites and through personal ads.
He targeted single mothers, and divorced, separated and widowed women and wove a web of deception.
He told them his son had been killed in an accident, his daughter had been run over, or his sister had cancer. And duped his victims into parting with more than $50,000.
But yesterday his lies caught up on him. Franklin, 42, unemployed, of Hastings, appeared in Napier District Court and pleaded guilty to 10 charges of obtaining money and goods by deception.
While the victims were named in the police summary of facts tabled in court, Hawke's Bay Today has elected not to name them to spare them further embarrassment.
The summary said Franklin met women via the internet and personal ads, wooing them with "well-rehearsed lines, grooming them with lies and deceptions of grandeur and tragedy".
Within days of meeting a victim, he would contact her in an upset state, grappling with a "tragedy". The tragedy always fell on a public holiday, and at the same time he had been burgled or robbed. He claimed he needed money for funeral or medical costs and transportation.
In 2005, he met a Rotorua woman on the internet and "milked" her of more than $30,000 over two years.
An online relationship with a Hastings woman "blossomed" last September and he arranged to have her car upgraded.
She gave him her car, valued at $3000, credit card and driver's licence. Franklin then disappeared, racking up $4000 in debt - and she never saw her car again.
In May, he told a Waikuku woman he was a fireman and property developer. He said he needed to get to Hastings as his son was dying, but had car problems. In the next few days she transferred $13,200 into his accounts.
His seven victims included women in Auckland, Napier and Waiuku.
But his deception was not restricted to the vulnerable. In April, he convinced two real estate agents he had inherited $22 million from a Maori trust. The police summary said they "wooed him as a wealthy client, chauffeuring him about Hawke's Bay". They paid for a meal at Craggy Range and lent him $1300.
In June, Franklin told TC Computers he needed to buy computers for a WINZ course he was running. He left with two laptops and computer equipment worth $2225.
When arrested, he told police: "I just got caught up with my lies."
His lawyer, Michael McAleer, said Franklin accepted jail was inevitable.
Judge Patrick Mahoney ordered pre-sentence and reparation reports and remanded Franklin in custody. He will be sentenced on October 26.