A BOGUS baron has been jailed for running a £4.5-million international investment swindle from his racing stables in North Tawton.

Racehorse owner Joseph Birch claimed to be a knight, a peer or an army Major when he flew to Las Vegas, California and New York and persuaded rich Americans to invest huge sums in his totally fictitious companies.

His brazen scams were compared to those of Michael Caine and Steve Martin in the film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

He spent a fortune on his stables at North Tawton as a way of laundering the money and salted away more than £1.8-million abroad.

Birch and his wife Grit lived a lavish lifestyle, taking exotic foreign holidays, buying top of the range cars, and negotiating to buy expensive yachts.

He posed as a jet-setting businessman, dressed in expensive suits, and impressed would-be investors by staying at top hotels including the Trump Tower in Las Vegas.

He invented a string of fictitious companies with impressive names such as Energy Enterprises Inter-national, Ultimate Elite, Phlorian Racing and the Birchwood Stud as ways to dupe investors.

He forged documents which purported to show the companies had vast resources. One was said to have 10 billion Euros cash in the bank, and others to have assets of a trillion US dollars and 3 trillion Euros.

Investors were conned into parting with their money by being sent photos of credit notes at the US Federal Reserve worth trillions of dollars.

Birch’s fraud was truly international with victims in Spain, Italy and Germany, the bogus businesses being based in Holland and Germany, and money laundered through an account in Liechtenstein.

Despite his luxury lifestyle Birch was in reality a failed businessman with 14 convictions for theft or fraud, including a benefits fiddle.

His wife Grit helped in the deceptions and her signature was found on two of the false company documents which police found when they raided the couple’s home at Higher Lowton Farm.

Grit is a former racehorse trainer but both she and her husband are currently banned from the sport by the racing authorities.

Birch, aged 63, now of Horns Cross near Bideford, admitted four counts of removing or converting criminal property and one of possessing articles for use in fraud.

Grit Birch, aged 46, of Exeter, admitted possession of articles for the use in fraud.

Birch was jailed for seven years and six months and Grit for six months, suspended for two years by Judge Graham Cottle at Exeter Crown Court.

He told Birch: ’The scale of these frauds is breathtaking. There is nothing even remotely legitimate about any aspect of your activities. This fraud was on an international scale.

‘You pretended to be a knight of the realm, a lord, and a major in the army. It was all totally fictitious. You claimed to be an expert in trading in bonds and financial instruments. In fact you had no expertise at all and the money simply went into your pocket and you spent it as you wished.

‘You have done well to have avoided being convicted for fraud in the USA because of the consequences which might follow.’

Richard Shepherd, prosecuting, said the web of deceit was unravelled by police after they raided the farm and found a large number of documents.

They included letters describing a ‘private placement programme’ which were identical to those Birch used to con money out of victims.

He said ‘They were part of a fraudster’s toolkit. They were used to reassure investors that he was bona fide. There are references to Federal Reserve notes.

‘Birch was the salesman who travelled around the world committing the frauds face to face with victims and Grit Birch helped run the office and knew the documents were false.

‘Some documents are signed Sir Joseph Birch and Grit signed as secretary of one of the companies. He is a fraudster.

‘He and his wife lived in a huge property in the countryside. They bred horses and had all the trappings of wealth that went with it.’

‘Birch popped up in expensive hotels in Zurich and Las Vegas. They both went on lovely holidays and chatted with yacht salesmen about purchasing vessels worth more than £1 million.

‘In reality, there is no evidence of any legitimate income. They benefited from his frauds with a luxury lifestyle. His frauds were reminiscent of Michael Caine and Steve Martin in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

‘It was all about bravado, expensive clothes and the trappings of wealth. The purpose was to fool and con investors he was an international jet setting investor in bonds and other investments.

‘He used the names Sir Joseph Birch, Major Birch and Lord Birch and even His Excellency Sir Joseph Birch. There is no evidence of any investments, this was just a scam on a large stage, carried out over seven years.

“He is a thoroughly dishonest individual who has been a thief and a fraudster for many years. This time he has gone international.’

His 13 victims included a group of Americans who he met at a barbecue in Las Vegas, all of whom were promised returns of up to 40 per cent. Other victims came from New York, Sacramento, Vancouver, and Seattle.

Birch spent tens of thousands on the farm, where he installed an indoor pool and drove around in two Range Rovers, a Porsche and a Jaguar.

Mr Simon Nichols, for Birch, said he had run a successful employment agency in Germany and only started the frauds when it failed because of a £1-million bad debt.

Mr Jason Beal, for Grit Birch, said she had also been a victim of his lies, believing he was a genuine retired Major and had not played an active role in any of the deceptions. He also lied to her about having liaisons with other women while abroad.