A CONMAN who duped his Clitheroe girlfriend out of £1,700 by claiming his mother had died has been ordered to pay her back.

Peter Wall, formerly of Victory Avenue, Southport, claimed that he needed the cash to pay for air fares to Australia as his mother had died in the country.

But Blackburn magistrates heard that while ‘down under’ he posted a message on social networking site Facebook saying he was loving playing rugby on Bondai beach.

Meanwhile his mother was alive and living in Liverpool.

The court heard that during his relationship with Charlotte Chapman, Wall stole her £4,500 Rolex watch – a 16th birthday present from her father.

And in December last year Wall falsely told Miss Chapman that his mother had died in Australia after taking an overdose.

The court heard he made a tearful phone call, supposedly to his sister, telling her not to worry and that he would get there somehow. Miss Chapman subsequently gave him the money for a flight to Australia.

But his deceit was discovered after he posted an entry on the internet.

Wall, 29, pleaded guilty to theft of the watch, and fraudulently making a false representation to make a gain of a holiday to Australia.

Wall was given an 18-month community supervision order and ordered to pay £1,700 compensation to Miss Chapman and £700 to a jeweller in Liverpool.

Police said that following Walls’ first appearance in Hyndburn Magistrates in March, he had failed to attend for sentencing and a warrant had been issued for his arrest.