Costa Rica Private Investigation – Man Fakes His Own Death to Live In Costa Rica May 28, 2012

HMV worker faked his own death in bid to live dream lifestyle in Costa Rica by claiming £850,000

Hugo Jose Sanchez, also known as Alfredo Sanchez, was jailed for five years after he faked his own death

A frustrated HMV web developer who faked his own death to start a new dream life as a Disney-style 3D animator in Costa Rica, has been jailed.

Hugo Jose Sanchez staged the audacious con to claim more than £850,000 with wife Sophie, who told his bosses he had died of a heart attack on a trip to his native Ecuador and been cremated.

However, the plan was derailed when a friend used Sanchez’ staff discount card to buy an Elvis album, triggering an investigation by the company.

The conman and his 43-year-old partner were caught out again when HIS fingerprints were found on a death certificate she had presented as proof of his demise.

The couple had already moved abroad and she was jailed alone after returning to the UK to visit her sister’s wedding, leaving Sanchez to continue living the good life, this time in Australia, with their four children.

The 57-year-old, also known as Alfredo, was eventually extradited after his wife had served her time and he was today jailed for five years and will serve half.

The defendant was warned he would face automatic deportation on completion of his sentence.

Sentencing him, Judge Gordon Risius said: ‘I sentenced (Sophie Sanchez) to two years in prison having given her credit for pleading guilty, for her previous good character and because the fraud had clearly been masterminded by you.

‘More importantly she had been swept into it by misguided loyalty to you as a husband and the father of her four children.’

The court heard how the conman had built contacts in Los Angeles through exhibiting his fine art was invited to help set up a 3D animation studio in Costa Rica.

Sophie Sanchez, wife of Hugo, was jailed in 2010 for two years for her part in the life insurance fraud

At the time, in 2004, he was so poor he had resorted to stealing number plates so he could fill his petrol tank and flee without paying on the way to work, until he was caught by police.

He was unable to put food on the table for his four children or to keep up with mortgage payments, his lawyer Michael Stradling said.

However, as the family started building links in the central American country his ‘partners’ began intimidating him into raising funds.

Mr Stradling told Oxford Crown Court: ‘There was, experienced by the family in Costa Rica, some considerable difficulty – it was not the safe place that he had thought and it became far more unsafe after he expressed to his potential business partners that he was in financial difficulties.

‘A mixture of these factors led him to go to Ecuador and fake his own death.’

Before his ‘death’ Sanchez set up a string of life insurance policies, maxed out credit cards, took out a loan on the family home worth £65,000 and even completed his will.

He also took out further loans and insurance on the money he owed as well as renting out the family home for a year.

Mrs Sanchez told his employers on January 10, 2005, that he had died tragically while on holiday in his native Ecuador and been cremated.

She even produced death and cremation certificates in order to receive his company pension fund before cashing in on the insurance policies and applying to have his debts wiped out.

HMV even paid for her to attend his funeral in the South American country, still believing he had genuinely passed away.

Hugo Sanchez dreams of a life in Costa Rica all fell apart when a friend bought a CD with his HMV discount card

However, the con began to unravel when pal Malcolm Jackson tried to buy an Elvis CD using Mr Sanchez’s staff discount card and was arrested and charged.

The bemused shopper called his friend from the police station but the trickster hung up.

Simon Heptonstall said: ‘This scheme began to unravel with a simple CD purchase. Mr Sanchez had given his staff discount card to a good friend, having said that it had been approved by HMV.

‘Mates rates were to a serious fate – when that friend went to buy an Elvis disk using that card he was stopped banned from HMV and arrested.’

The couple slipped up again when a pal receiving their mail accidentally opened a letter and discovered one of the claims.

Hugo Sanchez was a web developer for retail chain HMV, and worked in Marlow, Bucks

She tipped off the life insurance company and GE Insurance Solutions launched an investigation later telling police of their suspicions.

Officers then uncovered Sanchez’s fingerprints on his own death certificate and his wife was arrested after she arrived in Britain for her sister’s wedding in September 2010.

Following his arrest in Sydney he was on remand in an Australian prison where other inmates attacked him, in a bid to get their hands on his reported wealth, the court heard.

She was handed a two-year jail term for fraud and later ordered to pay back £160,000 pounds of the money she falsely claimed.

Sanchez, of no fixed abode, will also face a confiscation hearing at Oxford Crown Court on September 27.

Had the plan been successful the couple would have profited to the tune of a minimum of £850,000, plus ongoing payments made from his HMV pension scheme.

The couple had lived together at a house in Farnham, Surrey while he commuted to Marlow, Buckinghamshire, for work.

They met while she was on travelling in Australia and moved to Britain in September 1990 but he hid his real name even from her, calling himself after his younger brother Alfredo.