Comments on: Power mad conman and the Polish Mafia

Power mad conman and the Polish Mafia

ClanvidHorse — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 02:47:56 -0800

The delusional world of Robert Hendy-Freegard, assasin/spy/carsalesman The tale of a power-mad car salesman. The guy managed to get so many people to do so many crazy things that I suggest you read the link for yourself. Unbelievable.

By: uncanny hengeman

uncanny hengeman — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 03:01:53 -0800

Told there was no one of that name there, but thinking it was all part his MI5 evaluation, Mr Young handed the surprised barman the can opener and said: "Well, when you see him, give him this." What an absolute scream!!!

By: adzm

adzm — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 03:11:49 -0800

I feel no pity for these gullible people... (only their loved ones). This guy has lead one hell of a life, though, I'm sure.

By: uncanny hengeman

uncanny hengeman — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 03:21:55 -0800

I feel no pity for these gullible people. Hell, I do.

By: handybitesize

handybitesize — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 03:33:55 -0800

Massively gullible victims for sure, but how unfulfilled must your life be to go along with some of these "MI5 tests"? ..becoming a blonde, going without make-up and sanitary towels, sleeping in Heathrow airport for several nights at a time, and living on park benches in Peterborough for weeks during winter. Where's the mixing vodka martinis and playing baccarat?

By: bashos_frog

bashos_frog — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 03:39:22 -0800

sounds like a movie I once saw...

By: TimothyMason

TimothyMason — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 03:47:38 -0800

Massively gullible victims You're not getting it. This is the story of a serial wife-beater; the way he deluded these poor women was very similar to the way many men lock their wives into abusive relationships in which they are bullied, degraded and robbed of their selves.

By: ClanvidHorse

ClanvidHorse — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 04:06:37 -0800

Several of his victims were male. but I take the point that he operated in the same way as a wife-beater.

By: TimothyMason

TimothyMason — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 04:21:15 -0800

Only one of the victims in the court case was male. It is interesting that he subjected this man to what he (the perpetrator) probably saw as sexual humiliation. That is to say, he turned him into a woman.

By: handybitesize

handybitesize — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 04:22:31 -0800

You're not getting it Not wanting to detract from the seriousness of the crime, or the inhumane nature of the tactics, but sometimes, just sometimes, the absurdity of the facts turn the gravity into levity.... He told Miss Kister that Miss Smith was Spanish and could speak no English, while telling Miss Smith, whom he had convinced she was being hunted by the IRA, to pretend she could not understand anything said to her for security reasons. As a result they never exchanged a word in three months.

By: TimothyMason

TimothyMason — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 04:33:09 -0800

Dark comedy indeed. But the judgement that the victims were massively gullible, or that they must have had unfulfilled lives is misplaced.

By: ClanvidHorse

ClanvidHorse — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 04:34:04 -0800

To be honest when I posted this I was primarily thinking of the bizarre, sheer off-the-scale magnitude of the lies. I wasn't thinking too much about the sociological/pathological aspect of it. There are plenty of tawdry tales of wife-beating out there but very few will involve tales of moving to the Hebrides

By: ClanvidHorse

ClanvidHorse — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 04:34:52 -0800

to watch submarines. (Pressed post to quickly that time)

By: ClanvidHorse

ClanvidHorse — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 04:35:21 -0800

too quickly even...

By: TimothyMason

TimothyMason — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 04:52:20 -0800

The pathological aspect is in the lies. Domestic abusers are, I believe, often given to lies and fabulations.

By: bertrandom

bertrandom — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 05:03:46 -0800

bashos_frog - I was thinking the same thing, obviously this guy saw True Lies one too many times. That or Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 09:44:42 -0800

Wow. The method to this guy's scams is such that I have to wonder if he fell for his own story after awhile.

By: ericb

ericb — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 10:04:47 -0800

Unfathomable cruelty.

By: nervousfritz

nervousfritz — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 10:05:20 -0800

The pathological aspect is in the lies. I think the most pathological aspect was his derring-do. Domestic abusers are, I believe, often given to lies and fabulations. The unfortunate thing is the degree to which the fabulous are often given to domestic abuse.

By: Ziggy Zaga

Ziggy Zaga — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 10:25:47 -0800

reading this, i wasn't reminded so much of "true lies" as i was of "confessions of a dangerous mind..."

By: selfmedicating

selfmedicating — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 11:32:12 -0800

I'm having trouble feeling a lot of sympathy for the victims. I mean, come on. The last time a car salesman told me he was a spy and asked me to give him 10,000 pounds and go without sanitary napkins, I just quietly moved away and got a different seat on the bus. Who believes this stuff?? I think he carefully selected very gullible people.

By: TempusFugit

TempusFugit — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 12:36:49 -0800

The very key to his work was charm, confidence, and trust-building. Never having met the man, it is impossible to gauge where his disarming charisma ends and the victims gullibility begins.

By: warbaby

warbaby — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 12:46:21 -0800

If you think the victims were extraordinarily gullible, you've never seen a first-class con in action. The petty grifters will target marks with larceny in their soul, but the real pros can and will play nearly anybody, anywhere, anytime. A high-class con played up against the wall (or in a store, for that matter) is like a beautiful improv play, where the audience slowly becomes the cast without knowing it, speaking the lines they should, taking cues, and doing things according to a script they think they understand.

By: warbaby

warbaby — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 12:52:20 -0800

It's a House of Games

By: Eideteker

Eideteker — Sat, 25 Jun 2005 04:14:09 -0800

Not to detract from (or repeat) bashos_frog's comment, but I wonder who's optioned the movie rights. Why wait til the trial's over? They can just tack on an ending in post.

By: troutfishing

troutfishing — Sat, 25 Jun 2005 06:36:02 -0800

Another day, another sociopathic used car salesman.