Ben Papantoniou (pictured) has now been jailed for 30 months
A former lettings estate who appeared on a Channel 4 reality TV show stole £3,000 and expensive belongings from people’s home, a court heard.
Ben Papantoniou, 34, was a former manager at Benham & Reeves Residential Lettings in Hampstead, London, but started a crime spree after leaving the firm.
He would pose as a lettings agent with different companies across the capital to get hold of keys so he could carry out fake viewings.
Once inside, he would steal items from each property and ended up making off with more than £3,000 in cash, jewellery and bags, reports the Ham and High.
He admitted five charges of fraud, four charges of burglary and one charge of theft and was jailed for 30 months at Blackfriars Crown Court.
Papantoniou, from Notting Hill, west London, left Benham & Reeves in March 2017 and the crimes took place between June and August this year.
He was the star of the Channel 4 show Seven Days which was based in Notting Hill.
The newspaper reports he fraudulently took keys from Foxtons, Knight Frank, Chestertons, Kinleigh, Folkard and Hayward by posing as a lettings agent.
He would claim to be from a different agency on each occasion and would later steal items from properties in affluent areas of the capital.
On June 9 – his first offence – Papantoniou stoke jewellery, a handbag, a rucksack and €150 and 500kr in cahs from the house on Primrose Gardens.
The 34-year-old (pictured) was a star on the Channel 4 reality TV series called Seven Days which was broadcast in 2010
The former estate agent (left) started stealing from hours after he left his job earlier this year
He had conned Knight Frank and persuaded them to hand over the keys after pretending to still work for Benham & Reeves.
Later than month he made off with a gold coin, shoes, a bag, a wallet, £30 and $800 in cash from a property in Knightsbridge.
In July, he stole £2,000, 3,000HK$ and €200 from a home in Kensington, west London, and later stole a watch and ring from a property in West Hampstead.
In total, he stole more than £3,000 in Pounds, Euros, US dollars, Hong Kong dollars and Krone.
The former reality TV star (pictured) would steal items from each property and ended up making off with more than £3,000 in cash
Benham & Reeves Residential Lettings, which is a separate company to Benham & Reeves sales, told the Ham and High: ‘We keep a tight control of our keys.
‘Our understanding is that Ben fraudulently posed as an employee of Benham & Reeves Residential Lettings sometime after he had left our company.’
A spokesperson for Foxtons added that they had compensated the tenants who were affected and are reviewing their security procedures.
Kinleigh, Folkard and Hayward added: ‘This was an isolated incident and as a result our procedures have been reinforced across our network of 60 branches.’
Chestertons said: ‘Chestertons has a number of checks and strict procedures in place to prevent fraudulent activity such as this.
‘We urge all agents, landlords and tenants to always remain vigilant and report or further investigate any suspicious activity.’
Knight Frank declined to comment when approached by the paper.