GHANAIAN CELEBRITY DESIGNER JAILED IN UNITED KINGDOM FOR FRAUD

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.