The Hastings conman who stole the hearts and savings of vulnerable woman was yesterday jailed for a minimum 21 months - but one of his victims has called the sentence a joke.
William Franklin has 69 previous convictions and now says he is sorry and that this "lag" will be the
last.
He is frank about his past and the pain he caused: "Whether you are lonely, or single, or divorced or widowed, whatever, there are some nice people out there. I just don't happen to be one of them."
But he told Hawke's Bay Today he planned to turn his back on crime for a straight life with his pregnant partner.
Franklin netted $73,565 in cash, cars, computers and expenses from July 2005 to August this year but his victims will not see a penny back.
Franklin, 43, met his seven victims on the internet and through personal ads, targeting single mothers and divorced, separated and widowed women.
He pretended to be a fireman, a millionaire property developer, that he owned a helicopter and had inherited $22 million from a Maori trust. Using well-rehearsed lines and charm he groomed them with lies and tales of tragedy - duping them into parting with money or cars.
He claimed his son had been killed in an accident, his daughter had been run over, or that his sister had cancer. He fooled two Napier real estate agents who "wined and dined him" at Craggy Range and he ripped off a computer company and a bank.
Franklin was jailed in 2004 for the same type of crime but said he had now he had learnt his lesson.
"All I can say is I'm sorry, I can't go out and miraculously find $73,000 to make it financially better, but all I can say is sorry - I haven't got anything else to give them," he said
Franklin appeared in Napier District Court yesterday for sentencing. He earlier pleaded guilty to 10 charges of obtaining money and goods by deception and three counts of using a document.
His lawyer, Michael McAleer, said Franklin had a gambling addiction and lived in a "fantasyland". He moved through life trying to find easy money, rather than trying to get a job.
Mr McAleer also suggested the victims should have shown common sense - particularly the woman who gave him $10,000. But Franklin rejected that claim.
Judge Bridget Mackintosh said Franklin wreaked havoc with the victims' lives and abused their generosity. He was a conman in the true sense of the word.
She jailed him for two years and eight months. He will serve a minimum 21 months.
But one of the five victims in court murmured: "That's a joke."
No reparation was ordered as Franklin had more than $26,000 owing in reparation from past crimes and realistically could not pay it back.
A relative of Franklin said he had always been crafty. She lambasted the jail term, saying it should have been longer: "To me he'll never change."
Detective Constable Glen Burrell of Napier CIB said Franklin was "ego-driven".
"I would describe him as a career conman. He's a career criminal, that's what he is and he has a charismatic way about him."
"These woman are switched on, they are all professional, all intelligent and you look and think 'how can this happen?' But it's through no fault of their own, he's a predator."
Crown prosecutor Russell Collins described Franklin as a dangerous and cynical offender who should be given no more leniency.
The Hastings conman who stole the hearts and savings of vulnerable woman was yesterday jailed for a minimum 21 months - but one of his victims has called the sentence a joke.
William Franklin has 69 previous convictions and now says he is sorry and that this "lag" will be the
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