Prisoner banned from taking A Level as it would make it easier for him to defraud people

A conman who defrauded investors out of more than £3m was banned from taking an English literature A Level in prison in case it improved his vocabulary and “helped him become better at deception”. Joseph Nunn was jailed for six-and-a-half years in 2011 after he and Andrew Jelley conned 24 people out of millions of pounds in a property scam. The 43-year-old convinced clients to remortgage their homes on a promise of 15 per cent returns on their investments each year.



One victim lost £440,000, and Portsmouth Crown Court heard in October 2011 how the investors lost a total of £3.25m, with many losing their life savings and some having their homes repossessed. Nunn, who is serving his sentence at HMP Channings Wood, a category C prison in Devon, complained he was banned from taking an A Level in English literature for “security reasons”. He said that prison chiefs were worried that by taking the course he would increase his brain power, making it easier for him to con people when he was released.

Writing in Inside Time, the national magazine for prisoners, he said: "I am serving a fairly substantial sentence for fraud and will be in my late forties by the time of my release. My whole working background is in finance and the financial markets. I am therefore well aware that I will need to retrain to have any chance of future employment. With this in mind I set my sights on taking three A Levels whilst in prison before attempting to gain a place at university on my release.”



He said he had been in the process of applying to the Prisoners Education Trust to study the A Level, but it was refused by his Offender Manager on “security grounds”. "The basis of the refusal was that studying English Literature would increase my vocabulary skills, thus making it easier for me to defraud people in the future,” he said. "Does he really think that I will quote Hamlet to people and they will hand over their money?" Nunn made another application, which was again rejected. However, the decision was reviewed and on Friday Nunn was accepted onto the course.