Netflix fans have been flocking to watch a newly-added three-part true crime series about the world of shocking financial fraud – and one story is truly ‘stranger-than-fiction’.
Swindlers deep dives into the tumultuous lives and life-ruining crimes of three of ‘Ireland’s most notorious crooks and con artists’ through testimony from victims, investigators and journalists.
Already at number four in the top 10 chart, the show traces how these criminals managed to scam people out of millions – and were eventually caught in a game of cat and mouse.
One episode follows Dublin solicitor Thomas Byrne, the man behind one of the biggest cases of white-collar crime in the history of the Irish State, stealing €52 million (£45m) from Irish banking institutions and taking ownership of 12 of his victims’ houses.
Another delves into the notorious Custom House Capital (CHC) scandal in which four financial executives were ultimately jailed for investment fraud, dealing with sums of up to £53m of clients’ money.
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But the most alarming of all must be the case of Julia Holmes, an unassuming woman from County Tyrone who spent four decades as an international con artist…
What really happened with Julia Holmes?
Although she is now known as Julia Holmes, the lifelong late fraudster adopted over 40 aliases during her time living between the US, Northern Ireland and Ireland.
Described as ‘pure evil’ in the docuseries, one of the interviewees is her stepdaughter, Kim, who recounted that Julia lied to her father, Clyde Parrish, about her son dying when, in reality, she had abandoned him at six months.
Living in the US with husband Clyde over the 80s and 90s, she swindled countless people out of huge amounts of money – entering the millions – including Clyde’s oncologist, Denis Rose, who had treated him for cancer.
One of her schemes – a $500k property scam in Texas – involved convincing US investors to buy into her fictional land in Ireland with the promise of big returns, before making off with the money.
During her time in the state, she also encountered Patrick Swayze, the actor, and Dan Quayle, George HW Bush’s vice-president. She posed as a child psychiatrist, and Kim recalled instances of domestic abuse.
FBI Agent David Mohr told the documentary: ‘What I did find was Julia writing cheques for purchases of new vehicles, she had Rolex watches, all kinds of expenditures that were well above her means.’
Victim Denis came forward about losing $400k (£302k), which contributed to Julia’s eventual arrest.
She was sentenced to 27 months in jail and was eventually deported back to Tyrone in 2005, where she continued her defrauding schemes.
After she was jailed for 21 months in 2009 for a scam worth £1m, two years later she fled from the police to Limerick while on bail, at that point with more than 20 previous convictions for fraud.
Other lies she spread included having terminal cancer (she worked in Irish hospitality at this point and wore a wig as a disguise) and claiming she was pregnant at 59.
Born Cecilia Julia McKittrick, across her four decades as a fraudster, her fake identities included: Elizabeth Holmes Parrish, Jay Holmes, Jay Parrish, Julia O’Neill, Julia Hunter, Julia Greer, Julia Ruttle, Jules Ruttle, Julianne Ruttle, Julia Parish, Croein Ruttle, Julie Greer, Bonnie Parrish and Dr Watson.
Soon after fleeing, she met her partner, Thomas Ruttle, and they set up a fake honey-selling scheme for which they won an award.
Thomas had two sons – Kelvin and Ian – who had a difficult relationship with their father’s new partner and saw him change for the worse.
Lian Hogan, their mother, called her: ‘Evil, evil is what you call her. Just pure evil.
‘[Thomas] was vulnerable, and this person just took him over and took over his whole life, changed it completely, and yes, I’m angry because everything would have been so different.’
As Kelvin recalled his last encounter with his father: ‘Dad took mum to court. He was in arrears in child support payments.
‘One of the ways they wanted to get out was [by saying] I wasn’t his child. So he wanted a DNA test done. I remember he was very cold, very distant.’
In May 2015, Thomas and Julia were found dead in their Limerick home by four burglars in what appeared to be a joint suicide through the use of carbon monoxide.
Swindlers is available to stream on Netflix now.
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