Conman jailed after admitted he "lied as easily as he breathed" I never met someone who could fabricate so professionally. It all seemed unscripted and genuine. He was keenly versed in the language of global finance and real estate and he masterfully impersonated a high-level financier. He artfully dropped names of US bankers and broker and told detailed stories about his alleged ten years with Goldman Sachs, his wife Steph and his beloved daughters. None of it was true. Stewart first came across the high profile businesswoman on a real estate website in September 2010. He made contact by claiming he wanted to buy an island retreat and then proceeded to manipulate her with a "tissue of lies" designed to exploit her vulnerability, the Old Bailey heard. He claimed his own father had been killed in an avalanche just like hers and exploited the breakdown of the her marriage by inventing a wife for himself, who he claimed had died in 2002. He promised to travel to the Turks and Caicos Islands to meet her, but kept coming up with excuses to cancel the trip. Stewart persuaded her to wire him £626,000 by claiming that he could increase her investment by around a third. Once he had her money he used it to back up his claims of riches by blowing it within four months. He bought a £55,000 Mercedes £31,000 designer watch. He also paid for stays at the exclusive Ritz and Hyde Park Tower hotels as well as chauffeur driven shopping expeditions to Harrods and trips in helicopters and private jets. When he did eventually visit his victim in the West Indies it was on the pretext of purchasing two multi-million pound villas. But he abandoned the sale, leaving Ms Siegenthaler a further £150,000 out of pocket. Miss Siegenthaler, who is vice-president of Sotheby's International Realty, said she hoped her ordeal would serve as a warning to other potential victims, describing him as a man without conscience who had stolen not just her money but her self worth and dignity. "He is genuinely brilliant, charismatic and very charming," she said. He is also a very dangerous man. Judge Stephen Kramer told Stewart, who admitted one count of fraud, that he had caused "immense psychological as well as financial harm." The court heard that he had a previous convictions for fraud and a complex mental history. He had since repaid £92,000 of the money.