Smooth-talking charmer given name-change ban

A smooth-talking sex offender has been banned from changing his name after he charmed his way into the lives of women up and down the country.
Joshua WalmsleyJoshua Walmsley
Joshua Walmsley

Joshua Walmsley, 39, told women he had been in the SAS, escorted Princess Diana across the minefields in Angola, held four degrees and spoke six different languages.

He even claimed to have owned a Michelin starred restaurant in Canada.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

But his lies were uncovered when a Fylde coast woman heard him giving a different name on the telephone - and discovered an online blog where dozens of women claimed to have been taken in by Walmsley.

Walmsley went under a string of aliases, including Joshua Faulkner and Neil Anthony Davenport, regularly changing his moniker to stop the women he wooed discovering his cheating past, a court heard.

Recorder Nicholas Clarke QC, sentencing, said: “At every turn he has lied about his identity, his job, his employment, he has changed his name in order to try and hide from his past.”

Walmsley pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud, after handing over a CV boasting his culinary prowess to three restaurants in East Lancashire.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He was invited for a work trial at the upmarket Stanley House Hotel and Spa but after presenting himself as a pastry chef he was unable to bake a simple tray of brownies - and handed is would-be employer a tray of charred remains.

He was given a second chance as a commis chef, but was unable to make a simple sauce, the court heard.

He also admitted breaching the terms of his Sex Offender’s Prevention Order after wooing two women in Lancashire and staying overnight at their homes while their children were present.

Walmsley honed in on the first woman when he met her at Blackburn Cathedral – claiming to be the next Dean.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The woman was taken aback when Walmsley moved in and kissed her but very soon they started a relationship.

The second woman met Walmsley through dating site Badoo where his profile made claims he had a lengthy military career.

He met up with her in a children’s play area in the Thornton Cleveleys area, the court heard, and told her it was his birthday, before going along to a restaurant in Lytham for their lunch.

However it was the woman who picked up the bill – even lending leaching Walmsley £20 for a taxi home.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In each instance Walmsley moved fast and was almost living with the women within weeks. They gave him money for food, rent and living expenses and let him use their cars.

Recorder Nicholas Clarke QC, sentencing, said: “I have contemplated an order that would ensure he wore suitable identification either round his neck or whatever was required to inform people who he is and what his past is.”

Walmsley, of Prescot Close, Bury, spent five months on remand awaiting sentence for his offences.

Recorder Clarke, at Burnley Crown Court, said if he jailed him he would be eligible for release almost immediately.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He said: “I am prepared to take the unusual step of not making an immediate custodial sentence. Part of my rationale is that I have considered the problem you pose to vulnerable women by changing your name to exploit them and have them believe you have an honourable working history.”

Instead, he handed him a three year community order with the condition he does not use any other name either face to face or by social media, or change his moniker by deed poll.

He also ordered him to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work and 30 days rehabilitation activity requirement.