A conman who sold machinery he’d hired from other firms has been jailed.
Michael Terrance Smith pleaded guilty to a catalogue of swindles involving plant and machinery over a six year period
In a catalogue of crimes spanning six years and concerning around £700,000 of equipment, Ruabonman Michael Terrance Smith swindled a number of unsuspecting victims.
Now bankrupt Smith had hired a digger and several trailers - worth around £69,000 - from a Gwynedd firm, but they never them again.
He also went to a firm in the north west of England and bought heavy equipment from them for £23,000 and ordered another worth £30,000.
When he’d failed to pay for it, someone from the firm went to the address he’d given - in Knutsford - but rather than finding Smith there, found a pensioner who said he’d loaned Smith £20,000, but hadn’t seen him since.
Thankfully, the £30,000 machine was never delivered.
In another incident, a woman hired some machinery for Smith to level ground on her farm near Wrexham , but he rehired it without her knowledge and ran up a £15,000 bill in her name.
Minera farm machinery dealer Stephen Coventry supplied items to Smith on behalf of Gaynor Price and they were paid for.
Then he began purchasing items for himself but his cheques bounced with a total loss of £7,700.
Rea Valley Tractors based in Shrewsbury were asked by Smith to urgently provide equipment after he said he had suffered a break in and had 14 chain saw gangs at work.
Over a period of time goods to the value of £18,200 were provided but his cheques bounced.
Popular Properties in Wrexham hired containers to the defendant and they were initially properly paid for.
But others were not paid for, they had disappeared and the company had been left with a £14,400 loss.
Smith hired five containers from I T Williams in Ruthin , which again were properly paid for initially.
But then payments stopped and he owed £2,500 in rent. The containers were valued at £9,250.
Judge Rhys Rowlands, sitting at Mold Crown Court, said that he was guilty of a raft of offences against eight victims over a six year period.
“You repeatedly stole valuable plant and machinery which had been leased to you, and you failed to pay for machinery you received,” he said.
“In doing so, you caused significant losses to others,” he said.
It was dishonest behaviour by a man with a history for like offending.
He had been “plausible” and had been able to deceive others, individuals and small local companies.
The defendant also dishonestly secured finance with fictitious assets.
Judge Rowlands said that sadly it was not out of character because he had a record of similar offending, the most been significant a conviction after trial in Bristol in August 2004 for conspiracy to defraud when he received a six year prison sentence.
Defending barrister Peter Moss said that his client suffered ill-health which would make the inevitable prison sentence more difficult to bear.
The matter had been hanging over him a very long time, he had made immediate admissions,
Smith, 57, of East Avenue in Ruabon, admitted 10 charges – six theft and four fraud - and was told that if he had been convicted after trial then he would have received a five and a half year sentence.
Instead he was jailed for three years and eight months.
He was a man who had run a successful company employing a number of gangs fitting telephone masts but cash flow problems occurred and he “reverted to his old ways” out of desperation, Mr Moss said.
Smith has since been made bankrupt.
http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/jail-ruabon-conman-who-sold-12105318
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