He was a smooth-talking, self-made celebrity tailor
with a champagne lifestyle to match.
Leslie Danso kitted out his famous clients for red
carpet film premieres, TV shows and society
weddings.
He posed for pictures with actor Idris Elba and his
customers included former England footballer Emile
Heskey and ex-Premier League star Fabrice
Muamba.
Many received free clothes in return for the
publicity that their appearances in the spotlight
inevitably created. But none of them knew that,
behind his smiles, Danso was a ruthless fraudster
and illegal immigrant who used false identities to
rent properties across the capital – which were
turned into underworld drug dens.
His boutique near London’s Tower Bridge was a
vanity venture funded by his life of crime, and he
even fraudulently leased six top-of-the-range
BMWs.
The Ghanaian now faces being deported – for the
second time – after he was jailed for fraud and
using counterfeit documents.
Scotland Yard remains unsure if Danso is his true
identity, and believes that many of his victims have
yet to come forward.
Danso, 39, posed as the dapper proprietor of Qumi
Couture, a bespoke menswear store. On his
website, he described himself as ‘ever the sharp
dresser’ and ‘a man going places’.
His shop outfitted clients for racing at Ascot and
gala dinners, and his tailoring even featured in the
pages of GQ Magazine.
But it all collapsed after police uncovered a chain of
drug safe-houses rented in false names across
south-east London.
In 2013 they found two flats in Rotherhithe rented
under the fake names George Branson and Adam
Smith.
At one, they found crack cocaine, heroin, cannabis,
cash and ammunition, and at the second a man was
caught red-handed cutting up heroin.
Investigators learned that Danso had rented both
flats and also used the names Kevin Walters and
Kevin Reece.
Eventually, police linked him to at least eight safe-
houses in central London and affluent suburbs such
as Sidcup and Bexleyheath.
Last May he was arrested at his luxury four-
bedroom home in Dartford, Kent, where his
designer clothes filled the entire loft conversion.
The same day, officers found cash and more than a
kilo of heroin and crack at a flat he rented in
Bermondsey.
Danso came to Britain in 1999, but was thrown out
in 2008 in a deal struck by prosecutors after he was
arrested over credit card fraud.
He returned just months later and set up Qumi, first
as a designer and later as a director.
Danso failed to pay rent and bills at the rented
properties, including his Tower Bridge showroom.
Some were stripped bare, and their fittings may
have been sold on eBay or shipped abroad.
Photographs found on his computer suggest Danso
bought properties in Ghana.
Victims said that he was ‘well-educated, smooth-
talking and arrogant’, and he begged police not to
tell anyone about his arrest – while boasting that
other inmates in Belmarsh Prison were in ‘awe’ of
his clothes.
DC Jenny Woodward, who led the inquiry, said she
had no doubt that other victims have yet to come
forward.
She said: ‘He clearly lived the life. He loved flash
cars and opening events. He was very proud that he
did the tailoring for the wedding of a famous
footballer.’
Danso claimed he did not know the rented flats
were used to store drugs, and was not charged with
any offences linked to the raids.
But he was jailed for 14 months after admitting 11
counts of fraud and manufacturing and possession
of false documents at a hearing last month.
The judge at Woolwich Crown Court ordered two
counts of theft to remain on file.
His cousin Manfred Gaisie, 34, of Stirling, admitted
three counts of fraud and was handed 140 hours of
community service.
Two other men, both 27, were jailed for three years
for drugs offences.
Source: Mail Online
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