Ajayi swindled four American women he met on the internet dating site, Match.com, of over £120,000.
"I'm sentencing you to six and a half years. You may now go down - a technical term for jail'' the Judge said.
Ajayi, who performs under the stage name, "Malo Joe" pretended to be an American fighter pilot , a grieving widower and an oil executive to the women he fleeced before the long arms of the law caught up with him.
While the crown prosecutor summed up his argument stating how Ajayi lived off the women by lying -among others, in one instance - that he had been held hostage by Niger Delta militants and therefore, his captors needed some ransom before he could be released, otherwise, they would kill him, his defence lawyer, John Femi -Ola pleaded with the court: "don't crush him so that he can have the opportunity to do something useful with his life ," after his term. Femi-Ola also told the Judge that "this is his first time."
Despite the pleas for mercy, it was inevitable that he would be caged. After listening to the pleas from both sides, the Judge took a 20- minute break at 3.40p.m. and when the court re-convened at 4.00p.m., she took about 40 minutes to read her sentencing notes, detailing the seven- count charge that Ajayi had been found guilty off by the jury who had found him guilty four days earlier.
In one occasion, he tricked and lied to one of his victims who parted with over $100, 000, that he was a businessman who was short of cash and therefore, needed a loan. The woman used some of the money on her credit card and also borrowed from family members to raise the funds.
In another, Ajayi claimed he was in the hands of Niger Delta militants and they would kill him within 20 hours if the woman didn't do anything about the ransom they asked her to pay. She hurriedly sent $500 through Moneygram to Nigeria, where he then cashed the money.
"All the four women were embarrassed" when each discovered they were dealing with a con man and not someone who loved them and was in a relationship. Of course, none knew about the other until detectives contacted them after his arrest.
The Judge told him," You defrauded women of the sums the women cannot afford to lose."
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