A "CATCH ME IF YOU CAN" fraudster claimed to be a LORD and pilot to swindle victims out of thousands.

Smooth-talker James Maycock, 31, spent five years fashioning fantastic lies to fund an extravagant lifestyle in a "Dorset edition" of the 2002 Leonardo DiCaprio film, a court heard.

The scammer told a girlfriend he was an airline pilot when in reality he had only taken a handful of lessons at Bournemouth Flying Club, which he failed to pay for.

He also booked a £9,000 helicopter ride to London to impress another girlfriend, which he also allegedly never paid for.

His litany of lies included claims he had inherited £1m from his father.

He even claimed to be Lord James Maycock to an electronics company in an attempt to get them to extend his credit limit so he could buy a £1,100 drone.

But just like Frank Abagnale - the real-life conman played by DiCaprio in the 2002 film - Maycock's lies and deception eventually caught up with him.

Prosecuting, Mary Aspinall-Miles said he was a fantasist who tried to "fund his lifestyle through deception and fraud".

Maycock was initially charged with 19 fraud and dishonesty-related offences but pleaded guilty to five, amounting to £6,800.

The court heard he promised a girlfriend he would buy her a horse and had a vet inspection carried out, but never paid the £356 vet bill.

He also said he would take care of the vet bills when her dog broke its leg but instead he lied to the vets that the pet had insurance and never paid the £2,880 charge.

Maycock, from Poole, also told his girlfriend and her family he was a trained pilot but when police looked into the claim he had in fact only taken ten hours of unpaid flying lessons, totalling £2,500.

He got a job with a garage working as an unqualified mechanic in 2016 but left within a few months and his boss then received invoices for parts he had ordered without any authorisation.

When he started a new relationship he told "similar stories". This time he set up a company in the woman's name without her consent and ordered things in the company name.

He 'bought' £472 of tools from an electrical company with a credit account and then tried to buy a £1,100 drone, which the company halted because it exceeded his credit limit.

It was at this point he made claims of being a lord and when the company looked through their records of unpaid debtors they found a previous reference to a 'Lord Maycock'.

Miss Aspinall-Miles said: "Mr Maycock is a fantasist. There's absolutely no intention to pay for the goods and services.

"He was trying to live a lifestyle effectively funded by deception and fraud and, in particular, a bit like a film character – Catch Me If You Can.

"This is the Dorset edition. He pretended to be a pilot to his then-girlfriend.

"He made a number of assertions about his wealth and portfolio of wealth to his girlfriend and her family."

In sentencing, Recorder Nicholas Haggan said it was "hard to believe a word he says".

He said: "You were someone who knew very well what you were doing - you posed as somebody you were not and led others to believe you were a man of substance whereas the contrary was the case."

He sentenced Maycock to a six-month prison sentence suspended for two years and ordered him to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work, a thinking skills programme and rehabilitation requirement days.

The other 14 charges were ordered to lie on file.

One of Maycock's former girlfriends described him as a skilled manipulator, saying: "He doesn't care who he screws over, he has absolutely no conscience.

"It seems like it was almost a game to him, to see how big he could get away with."