An escort who raked in £70,000 in cash and gifts from an 83-year-old sugar daddy has been spared jail despite a long conwoman career.
Tanya Rowe, 42, pretended to be a manger for Cartier jewelers after meeting the wealthy retired entrepreneur in an Italian restaurant in north London.
He was able to move in with her and soon they began meeting regularly. Rowe was also given thousands of dollars. He claimed she also convinced Rowe that she was suffering with breast cancer.
The businessman even forked out £13,000 to buy a Ford Focus car for Rowe’s son Charlie Smith, 24, and sOther presents were also bought by him. Her favorite gift was a gold sex toy.
Following a suspicion from a close friend, Cartier contacted her and she was charged with deceiving the pensioner.
An unidentified businessman claimed an affair, denied knowing she was involved, and insisted he knew nothing about Rowe’s escort.
Rowe, however, was not charged with defrauding him at Chester Crown Court. She did, however, admit taking money and gift from him.
She also pleaded guilty to a separate charge of possessing faked Cartier payslips, which enabled her to rent out a £250,000 apartment.
Tanya Rowe, an escort who accepted £70,000 in gifts and cash from an elderly business tycoon she called her sugar daddy
She appeared via video link in her bedroom on Monday to face the charges for fraud of payslips.
As she received her sentence, she wept and was sent to jail for 15 months with an additional 18 month suspension. After swearing she would “go straight”, she was ordered to undergo 20 days rehabilitation.
She met with the complainant in September 2019, north London, and explained to him that she was an Events Manager at Cartier.
Rowe said that she was having a major operation at Chester’s Countess Hospital. Prosecutors claimed Rowe convinced them she had breast cancer. He was then told by Rowe that she hadn’t been paid and would be evicted.
The court heard he gave her £2,200 to pay the rent, followed by smaller payments of £200-400 to pay for ‘expenses’. He then gave her a further £28,000 the following January.
After he saw her at a jeweler, he bought her a Rolex. The staff said they heard her speak ‘for 25 mins’ about Cartier events managers and how she worked in Paris.
During his testimony, the businessman insisted he thought the money was loaned and that it would be paid back with interest as he believed Rowe was in the process of selling a £3.8 million house in Windsor, which she told him Heston Blumenthal was interested in purchasing.
He said that they were just ‘acquaintances,’ but it wasn’t a relationship.
He said that Rowe, half-naked, jumped into Rowe’s arms when they first met and ended up being on the couch having a fumble.
She said she’d send him obscene, filthy messages. He would then reply in a humorous way. Another night, he claimed to be sickened when she arrived at his residence with some ‘equipment,’ which was a sextoy.
He claimed that some of the responses to his texts were innocent and refuted claims Rowe had told Rowe she was an escort.
Rowe, in evidence, claimed that she was given the money by Rowe as part a so-called “sugar daddy” sexual relationship.
She said she first met the pensioner in the café and after learning he was planning to move house, provided contact details for a firm of estate agents. The OAP was initially shocked to learn that she had told her she was an escort when she first said she worked at Cartier.
She claimed she encountered money troubles when she went to Turkey for a £9,900 boob job and her scar became infected.
Rowe claimed Rowe required blood transfusions for urgent medical treatment at Chester Hospital. Rowe also stated she disclosed her real profession to Rowe when he visited the hospital. She said that he responded saying there was nothing to be ashamed about and offering to pay the bills.
Rowe who grew up on a council estate in Tottenham, North London had previously served a five year jail term over a crime spree in which she stole £61,000
Rowe said the pensioner then became a client of hers, spending up to £300 a time to be with her, which included sexual encounters.
According to her, he had become more obsessive/controlling and exchanged hundreds of messages between November 2019 & January 2020.
It was reported that he had dropped off a surprise package of a platinum-golden sex toy to her front door at Christmas.
Rowe, her son and Windsor resident were found not guilty of the fraud related to the vehicle. However, a jury could not reach a verdict regarding a second accusation, namely whether Rowe had falsely claimed to have breast cancer and work at Cartier.
The prosecution later provided no additional evidence, and the jury recorded a not guilty verdict.
Simon Berkson sentenced her to pay for payslips fraud.
“Sadly her adult life was spent in frauds of every kind.”
Rowe told him that the counterfeit payslips were to be taken and that his wish for Rowe to end the trial was to fulfill his wishes and to not go to jail. You shouldn’t go back to your fraud life. You have my permission to give you another chance. Please take advantage of it.
Rowe who grew up on a council estate in Tottenham, North London had previously served a five year jail term over a crime spree in which she stole £61,000 from victims by posing as an Italian heiress waiting to inherit £30 million, a top barrister, a Wonderbra model and a terminally ill cancer sufferer.
Her bogus CV and forged documents suggested that she had an account with the Queen’s bank, Coutts & Co. She wore expensive clothes, always travelled by taxi, and made a show of eating in restaurants most evenings.
Even though she claimed to be an interior designer guru, she was brought in by celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal to clean up The Fat Duck restaurant in Bray (Berkshire).
Rowe was a criminal prosecutor. She also convinced a magazine for women to feature her struggle with cancer.
Past victims include property landlords, a waitress who lost her £5,000 savings and companies like estate agents Hamptons International and Savills, as well as a wealth management firm in Cheltenham.
She claimed that she had terminal cancer when her victims tried to get money from her.
Ryley Cruz sentenced her in 2016. She was described by a judge as “an extraordinarily devious and practiced and accomplished lie-teller”.
After her release from prison, Rowe used the faked payslips to move to Chester under the name Mia Cavalli.