Six months ago, Nicky Oakley was packing up her three-bedroom house, buzzing with excitement to move into her dream ‘for ever home’ with her partner and their three children.
asserted
Oakley → pack → partner
The four-bedroom Victorian property, set in sprawling gardens, was supposed to mark the beginning of an idyllic new chapter.
asserted
property → set → chapter
Instead, the move exposed a nightmare scenario.
asserted
move → expose → scenario
Unknown to her, Nicky had a six-figure debt and her home was in the process of being repossessed, after her signature was forged on court documents.
asserted
signature → have → documents
While she should have been sipping champagne, a stunned Nicky was learning that her boss – and friend of nearly 20 years – had defaulted on loans secured against her property.
asserted
boss → sip → property
To cover his tracks, he had forged emails from solicitors and faked Nicky’s signature.
asserted
he → cover → signature
Forced to turn legal sleuth to fight for her home, Nicky discovered she wasn’t the first person to lose thousands to James Kenny.
asserted
she → force → Kenny
In 2007, he had been handed a two-year suspended sentence after admitting to forging his own wife’s signature on a second mortgage application, even setting up a fake law firm website to trick her.
asserted
he → hand → her
(They have since divorced.)
asserted
They → divorce → ?
Further digging revealed he had duped other employees: Nicky knows of at least four other women who say they’ve lost thousands after being conned by the same man.
asserted
they → reveal → man
Shockingly, despite Nicky reporting what happened to Merseyside Police and the Report Fraud service, no action is being taken against Kenny.
asserted
action → report → Kenny
Meanwhile, she has no idea if she and her children will even have a roof over their heads by Christmas.
asserted
she → have → Christmas
‘My life is in absolute tatters,’ says Nicky, fighting back tears.
asserted
Nicky → say → tears
‘I’ve been used by a man I’d known for decades and am on the verge of financial ruin.
asserted
I → use → ruin
I feel like such an idiot for falling for his lies, but I trusted him implicitly.’
asserted
I → feel → him
Nicky Oakley knows of at least four other women who say they’ve lost thousands after being conned by James Kenny
Nicky says of James Kenny: 'He was such a likeable guy, the life and soul of the party'
asserted
He → know → party
Nicky met Kenny in 2007 when they worked for a luxury wedding venue in Cheshire.
asserted
they → meet → Cheshire
‘He was such a likeable guy, the life and soul of the party,’ says Nicky.
asserted
Nicky → say → party
’s the kind of person you sometimes need in events.
asserted
you → ’ → events
He was good at his job and we worked well together.’
asserted
we → work → job
The pair worked closely for around 18 months before Nicky left to have her first child.
asserted
Nicky → work → child
‘He’d message every few months, even asking if I wanted to work for him a couple of times.
asserted
I → message → times
I was working freelance around my children, and although I appreciated James’s offers, the timing was never quite right.’
asserted
timing → work → offers
After a contract ended in 2023, she contacted Kenny to see if he had any jobs that might suit her.
uncertain
that → end → her
He claimed to have the opportunity of a lifetime: he was launching the world’s first pirate-themed festival, complete with pirate ship, working cannons and a crew of actors.
asserted
he → claim → actors
‘James thought it was a multi-million-pound idea and was already looking at rolling it out across Europe,’ says Nicky.
asserted
Nicky → think → Europe
‘It was easy to get caught up with his enthusiasm.’
asserted
It → catch → enthusiasm
He offered her the role of director of operations with a salary of around £50,000, plus a £10,000 bonus.
asserted
He → offer → 50,000
‘I couldn’t resist the opportunity,’ Nicky said.
asserted
Nicky → resist → opportunity
‘Ironically, I was actually glad to work with someone I liked and trusted again.’
asserted
I → work → someone
Kenny explained that the project was waiting on the arrival of a guaranteed lottery grant and he needed a short-term loan to get things off the ground.
asserted
he → explain → ground
He claimed he couldn’t take out a loan totalling £60,000 himself because he was living in church accommodation, following the death of his father, a vicar.
asserted
he → claim → father
He asked Nicky to act as a guarantor, using her home as collateral.
asserted
He → ask → collateral
‘I don’t consider myself to be someone who takes financial risks,’ Nicky explains.
asserted
Nicky → consider → risks
‘I went over the paperwork in minute detail, checking a letter confirming the lottery funding [a document Nicky later discovered had been faked].
asserted
Nicky → go → funding
When Kenny offered her the role of director of operations with a salary of around £50,000, Nicky 'couldn't resist the opportunity'.
asserted
Nicky → offer → opportunity
‘Ironically, I was actually glad to work with someone I liked and trusted again,’ she says
'
asserted
she → work → someone
James assured me the £4,000 a month repayments would be no problem and I believed him.
asserted
I → assure → him
He hadn’t come to me with the idea, I’d asked him for work.
asserted
I → come → work
I thought I knew him really well.
asserted
I → think → him
…and 77 more, not listed.
The Aporia
