Convicted conman posed as Formula One boss to run up hotel bills

A fantasist posed as the chief operations officer of the Mercedes Benz Formula One racing team to run up hundreds of pounds worth of bills at hotels in Warwickshire and Worcestershire in England.

Convicted conman Stuart Howatson also used the same false identity in arrangements to purchase computer software and systems costing hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Howatson, 37, of Fisher Road, Bishops Itchington, had pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to a total of 12 charges of fraud and one of theft.

Nine of them related to Howatson posing as the chief operations officer with the Mercedes Benz F1 Racing Team to obtain £2,785 worth of accommodation and food at hotels in Leamington, Kidderminster and Bewdley between January and June 2014.

He also stole £1,500 from a man he had met, again after posing as the F1 team’s operations officer.

And in three further frauds committed between May and December 2014, by claiming to be the chief operations officer with the Mercedes Benz team he obtained computer security systems worth £224,408 and computer software systems costing 23,904 euros, as well as agreeing to purchase $1.1m worth of computer web security systems.