Bowls star’s gambling addict son in £40k fraud

Cameron Corsie placed bogus online adverts for flash cars including Range Rovers, Mercedes and Audis before blowing the cash he received in deposits on roulette.

On one occasion, he lost £10,000 from a false transaction in an Aberdeen casino.

The 23-year-old, who has previous convictions for fraud, also responded to online requests for FA Cup final and Wimbledon tickets.

Appearing from custody at Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday, he admitted 21 charges of fraud, committed between October 11, 2013 and September 14.

Sheriff Frank Crowe told Corsie, who sat in the dock in a suit with his head bowed, that he had a “shocking record”.

Defence agent Ray Megson said: “The problem is gambling.

“What is weird in many respects is that there was never a chance of him getting away with it. He was initially using his own bank account, his own mobile phone, and his father’s computer, although he had full access.”

Corsie, described in court papers as a prisoner at Saughton, also used his sister’s and partner’s bank accounts.

In one case, he refunded one of his victims £7000 “because he felt bad”.

Mr Megson added: “This is a young man from a very good background, very well educated, and highly intelligent, yet so caught up in this.”

Corsie went to counselling and to Gamblers Anonymous after his last conviction in 2012 – but fell back into old habits.

Mr Megson said that the two years between that case and the latest one was the “longest time that has passed between sentences since he was 17”.

He said Corsie had not benefited from the money as it had all been spent on gambling.

But Sheriff Crowe condemned Corsie’s “inherent deceitfulness” to access cash for a gambling problem which was difficult to treat.

He added: “There’s obviously the initial excitement of getting to a casino and thinking you’re James Bond, while you’re losing money. There seems to be very little that one can do about it. I am not sure what the prison service can do”.

Sheriff Frank Crowe said he had to consider how to protect the public on Corsie’s release from the problem “which results in the misery which you have inflicted on 21 people”.

He said: “Sooner or later we have to get this sorted out. Otherwise it will mean long-term sentences in jail.”

Sheriff Crowe deferred sentence on Corsie until later this month, for a social work report and a psychological assessment.

He added: “I will inevitably sentence you to a jail sentence and consider a supervised release order to stop you continuing in this cycle of crime.”

In October 2012, Corsie was given 300 hours of unpaid work instead of a prison term after a sheriff agreed to give him a “final chance”.

In that case, he swindled victims out of deposits and rent to net £1570 and 500 Euros, while he also sold football tickets over the internet.

He had been jailed for two years in April 2011, after scamming other victims out of £15,000.

Father Richard, a bowling Commonwealth gold-medal winner, was not available for comment last night.