Salesman conned firm out of £50,000 BMW

10:48am Tuesday 21st August 2007

A CAR dealer conned employers into giving him a job, then cheated them out of a £50,000 BMW, York Crown Court heard.

Convicted conman Stephen Richard Pearson, 40, lied in his CV and the job interview to get a post with Castle Motors at Clifton Moor, said Rupert Doswell, prosecuting.

Then he faked the sale of a £50,000 BMW Five Series diesel saloon with extras by stealing his cousin's ID details, netted himself a £1,500 commission for making the sale, and drove off in the car.

When he was caught, he blamed a colleague, claiming that he had been blackmailed into the BMW con by threats of having his past exposed to his employers.

"You used your position at Castle Motors to obtain that vehicle," Recorder Guy Kearl QC told Pearson, but decided against sending him straight to jail.

Instead, he suspended the nine-month jail term for 12 months, on condition that Pearson carries out 100 hours' unpaid work.

Pearson, of Wetherby Road, Harrogate, pleaded guilty to deception and using a false driving licence.

Mr Doswell said that Pearson had previous convictions for deception, theft, dishonesty and ABH starting when he was 19 and his last convictions were some years ago. When getting the job, he lied that he had worked for Ford in America and gained promotion, working in the luxury car business.

Had Castle Motors known the truth, it would not have employed him.

He started work in January 2006 and in April 2006 tried to set up the car sale with finance in the name of a family member and using family ID details including his uncle's company. That failed.

But he tried again using Lombard Finance and his cousin's name, without his cousin's knowledge. He conned his local authority into adding his cousin to his council tax bill, so he could use it as ID for the car scam, and obtained a driving licence illegally in his cousin's name, as extra ID.

After the finance arrangement was approved, he offered to deliver the BMW personally and drove off. He was seen driving it on a few occasions. He resigned his job in May 2006, only days before Lombard Finance told Castle Motors the finance arrangement was a fraud.

On May 17, 2006, Pearson dumped the BMW outside a garage in Thirsk, posting its keys through the letter-box.

For Pearson, Simon Reevell said the fraud had cost the companies £6,500 - Pearson's commission, plus the depreciation on the car.

The con had had "horrific consequences" for Pearson which included psychiatric problems. He did not go into details.