'He thinks he's untouchable - he's literally a nobody and has nothing going for him'

A 'manipulative and arrogant' footballer conned women he met on dating sites into opening betting accounts from which he drained their money.

He then stole more than £1,500 from his two victims but tried to persuade them he had done nothing wrong. Joseph Regan, 22 of Cardiff, used his victims' card details to open accounts with Bet365 and stole money from their bank accounts to gamble away.

He also threatened to turn up at the school where his first victim worked as a teacher, and falsely claim she had an inappropriate relationship with him when he was 19.

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A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Tuesday heard Regan, an amateur goalkeeper for Cardiff Corinthians FC, had targeted his victims, a teacher from Cardiff and a nurse from Bristol, between December 2021, and February 2022. He stole £1,420 from his first victim, who managed to claim back £350 from her bank, and £210 from his second victim, reports WalesOnline.

Speaking following the court hearing, the teacher described how Regan was "very forward" at the beginning of their short relationship and was "very charming and attentive".

She said: "He was putting on this front, he was saying he loved me and I thought that was so forward. He was saying we should go on holiday together. This was just three weeks and to some degree I had fallen for it."

The teacher said he talked her into letting him use her card to open a Bet365 account. She said: "He would send pictures of his card and say ‘Why don’t you trust me? I have sent my cards to you’. He was calling me stupid and stuff. I had feelings towards him so I thought he must be genuine. I didn’t see how someone