Robert Firth
A cowboy builder who vanished to the UK with thousands an expat paid him to do building work on their Costa del Sol home, had previously racked up a grand in fines while borrowing another British resident’s car.
Expat Mario Scaccia was left with a €1000 bill after Andrew Maddison, 55, refused to return a blue Mercedes e320 that Scaccia had lent to him for a month between February and March 2018.
Sunderland-born Maddison accumulated the charges during April 2018, while he was driving the car without permission.
Benalmadena-based entertainer Scaccia was eventually forced to go to police after the trickster refused to return the €3200 saloon and did a runner from Frigliana where he was living.
Police tracked down Maddison and confiscated the keys, but refused to give the them back to Wales-born entertainer Scaccia, saying that the car was parked dangerously.
He also caused over a grand worth of damage to the car according to Scaccia.
“It cost me an arm and a leg,” he said.
“It cost me €1200 in repairs. I had to get new tyres, new window winders. The seats were wrecked. The cloth on the ceiling had to be repaired.”
Maddison let Scaccia borrow the car after the conman’s then girlfriend posted on social media that she was looking for a cheap car to hire.
“He’s a first-class conman. I think she was doing all the nicey nicey stuff,” he told the Olive Press
The 15-year-old car had particular sentimental value for Scaccia who had been gifted it by a friend who was on his deathbed.
He thought Maddison had fled to the UK following the saga in 2018, but he had in fact moved down the coast to Duquesa.
