Fraudster told to sell his house to pay his debts

A former luxury car trader from Staffordshire who turned to fraud when his recession-hit business went downhill has been ordered to pay back £21,000 from the sale of his house.

Damian Greenwood cheated two individual clients and two finance companies out of just over £63,000 with fraudulent transactions involving a Mercedes, a Porsche, a Range Rover and a Bentley.

The 40-year-old, formally of Far Ridding, Gnosall, Stafford, had run a successful car business called Peregrine Group Ltd. sourcing cars and arranging finance for clients.

However the recession in 2008 hit the business hard and it eventually went under.

A meeting of creditors was held in February 2011 and police arrested Greenwood three months later.

It was discovered that Greenwood had supplied a £32,000 Mercedes without paying off the finance company.

A client who traded a £46,000 Porsche for a Range Rover never got the car or the money back, another client who traded in a Range Rover for a cheaper BMW and a VW Golf lost £3,000, while an £80,000 Bentley supplied by Greenwood was registered in another man's name.

He had previously admitted five charges of making false representations at a hearing in April when Mr Martin Reid, defending, said: "He was desperately trying to save his business, which was sadly failing due to the credit crunch. It was not for personal gain. He started these transactions with the intention of fulfilling them – the dishonesty that occurred was to buy time."

"He is sorry for the loss he's caused his customers, whether individuals or corporate Greenwood had been disqualified from being a company director for 11 years and had now moved to Yorkshire, Mr Reid added.

He was given a six month prison sentence suspended for two years and ordered to do 120 hours unpaid community work and to pay £650 costs.

In an uncontested Proceeds of Crime Act hearing, Judge Simon Tonking ruled that Greenwood had benefitted from crime to the tune of £63,056 and that the defendant should forfeit £21,843, his half share of the proceeds from the sale of his house.

He was given six months to pay or face nine months in jail. The judge directed the money should be shared between the victims as compensation.