• Andrew Gradon, 42, preyed on women in short-stay car parks of airports
• Spun lie that he had missed flight and exceeded limit on his bank card
• Claimed he could fly home if victim lent him £25 for flight on budget airline
• Showed passport as 'proof' he was genuine and said he would repay them
• Operated at 38 airports and even Interpol floundered trying to catch him
By Allan Hall for MailOnline
A British conman who made £15,000 a month duping wealthy women out of cash with sob-stories at airports across Europe has finally been jailed in Germany.
Dubbed 'Airport Man' in the media, Andrew Gradon, 42, was sentenced yesterday in Munich to ten months in prison to be followed by expulsion from the country for at least three years.
Gradon preyed on women with expensive cars as they drove to the short-stay car parks of airports.
His trial heard prosecutors say: 'If they looked like they were in a hurry, so much the better.'
Gradon would spin a line that he had missed his flight and exceeded the limit on his bank card.
But he said he could fly home for around €32 (£24) on a budget airline if they would loan him the cash.
He proffered his passport as proof that he was genuine, write down his bank details and gave them a fake e-mail address to contact him if anything went wrong.
In all, he operated out of 38 international airports, always smartly dressed and always playing the part of a distressed businessman eager to get home to his wife and family.
Because he settled for such small sums his victims usually didn't report his con tricks to police - but he still managed to earn an estimated £15,000 per month.
Interpol had him on their files for years.
But, after 13 years on the run, the agency only managed to get a photo of him in 2010 when a quick-thinking victim took a photograph of his passport - one of only a handful of male victims he preyed on.
Swedish businessman Tommy Forsell, the chief executive of a graphics company in Stockholm, took the photograph after giving him €40 (£29).
He said: ‘He wasn’t wearing a tie but he had on some kind of jacket and he looked a bit stressed – he did a really good role, he was very convincing. When he left I felt sorry for him and hoped he got home.’
Frankfurt, Hamburg, Prague, Cologne, Hanover, Bremmen, Lyon, Sicily and Barcelona were among the airports where the former chef from County Durham operated his stings.
A man claiming to be Gradon taunted his victims on an internet forum in 2009, claiming that he could rake in €200 (£150) in just 20 minutes.
He adds: 'You got ripped off and can't handle it. At least I give you the choice to say yes or no. Not like some people out there.'
He was finally caught in January this year when a 51-year-old woman from Munich reported him to the police after falling for his scam.
He was at Munich Airport two days after she was ripped off and was picked up by officers.
Gradon claimed to have been a 'vagabond' across Europe all his life, working as a cook and a farm labourer.
But he blamed an influx of cheap labour from eastern Europe for forcing him to resort to his confidence tricks.
He told the court: 'I am too old for this now. When I get home I will work for my brother's construction firm.'