INSIDE THE MALEVOLENT WORLD OF MICHAEL EKE
IF Michael Eke gets to read this ‘blog’ in prison, no doubt he will be add it to the satisfaction rating he’s so obviously been keeping during these past few days. I searched Google this morning and discovered if you put in the name ‘Michael Eke’ you’ll get in excess of 60 mentions this week alone. Satisfaction indeed.
He may even applaud the Daily Mirror today which, in their regular ‘ five big questions of the week’ poses this at number two:
THE 18-month jail sentence given to Michael Eke for conning his way to an MBE. On that logic shouldn't the House of Lords be turned into a high-security prison and every peer given life?
But behind the fun the national papers have been having with this case, remains the devastation Eke has left behind in his home town.
Do you really believe he received 200 letters (as the Fenland Citizen would have us believe) of support, asking Judge Downes to treat him leniently and spare him a prison sentence?
Wasn’t it just stretching credibility that bit too far, again as Eke told the Citizen, that all he was guilty of was some sort of naivete and that he had never dishonestly stolen anything ‘ no way, Jose!’?
The truth is that ‘Inside the Mind of Michael Eke’ is somewhere I’d rather not be. The man was a crook. Pure and simple.
Not only a crook, but quite a clever one too who over many years - not the 18 months he refers to- set out to rob and steal anything he could lay his hands on.
Did you, dear readers, know about the handcuffs and teddy bears? Unbelievably he purchased these whilst working for Cambs Police - ordering quantities through the stores and then walking out with them. Police involved in the case were too embarrassed to put the charges to the court, but what of the stuff that did make its way on to the charge sheets.
Was it really naiveté at work that saw Eke set up four different bank accounts through which legitimately raised funds were laundered so that Eke himself could become the sole beneficiary of the community’s fund raising?
Was it naiveté that produced immaculate kept ledgers at his home where he maintained, with some skill it must be said, a paper trail of his fraud and deception?
No, this was no mildly confused individual at sea with his paperwork - this was a criminal mind with criminal intent who knew precisely the course of action he was taking.
What, for example, of the £10,000 he obtained from BBC Radio Cambridgeshire ? Was it naiveté that saw him drive back to March and deposit the cheque straight into a bank account which the ATC knew nothing about? Surely the simpler thing would have been to drive back to March and hand it to the ATC treasurer, not deposit it in an account no one anything about?
You might also, if you so inquired, wonder why his wife, Lisa, didn’t question Michael’s sudden and new found wealth? Did he tell her he had been promoted by Cambs Police well above his stores department job to account for the tens of thousands of pounds her husband suddenly had access to?
What story did he tell her about money that would allow the family to buy 4 x 4s, sports cars and the like - each time transferring the hideous H2 EKE number plate onto a succession of new purchases?
Sadly we’ll never know, for Lisa has not spoken to the press, but I do wonder how she felt when the Eke world started to crumble.
It will crumble some more, since Cambs Police have already begun confiscation proceedings to get at some of the money he stole. Don’t expect, however, too much since the police have been unable to find any of the cash in any bank account and it’s unlikely the courts will move to have his house sold, and the proceeds used to repay those he defrauded.
If you have pity for the wretched man, consider the scouts from Sutton near Ely who came runners-up in the BBC Community Chest fund: in reality the rightful recipients of the £10,000.
They still meet in a rat infested scout hall, and still struggle to raise money to survive. How much more, in retrospect, does their case for the £10,000 seem justified?
And if you want to know what youngsters within the ATC world are thinking, I commend you to this website. I had it sent to me, and fascinating to delve into the minds of youngsters who are more street savvy that many of us. These are minds well worth looking into - so enjoy their comments.
http://www.aircadetcentral.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=161538#161538
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