TWO garages have been left out of pocket by a teenage fraudster who swindled them out of cars.
Joshua Beevers, aged 19, of Springfield Road, Biddulph, admitted five counts of fraud after buying cars on part exchange; using cheques which then bounced.
He was sentenced at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court to eight-months in a young offenders' institute, suspended for two years, plus a two-year supervision order and 240 hours of unpaid work.
Chris Beresford, owner of King Street Motor Company Ltd, in Longton, says Beevers still owes him about �10,000 plus a Vauxhall Astra, which he bought using an account which contained no funds.
Mr Beresford, aged 38, of Norton Heights, said: "He has got off scot free. The courts should have ordered compensation to be paid.
"He owes us �10,000 and we have not got the Astra back.
"He used to buy cars off me all the time. He would have a car for a week, get bored with it, then bring it back and part exchange it.
"We'd knock some money off the value of the car when he part exchanged it again.
"Then one time he came in and asked if he could have a car, then pay for it in a couple of weeks, because he was waiting for some money to come through.
"He owed us debts of �10,000. He then came in and paid the bill."
That cheque, along with others handed over by Beevers, bounced.
Beevers then took the Astra to Autokraft Garage in Uttoxeter Road, Longton, where he part exchanged it for a Peugeot 106, worth �2,300 plus �1,800 in cash.
Phil Halfpenny, owner of Autokraft, said: "He had taken cars from us before and there had not been any problems.
"He had a Peugeot 106 off us a while ago. He had it for two days, then said he didn't like it, he thought it was too small and part exchanged it for a Peugeot 206.
"He turned up here with the Astra and said he wanted the 106 back. We gave him the 106 and �1,800 in return for the Astra.
"We've still got the car, but we can't do anything with it because the police classed it as evidence."
The Sentinel reported on Friday how Beevers had begun buying and part-exchanging cars using compensation he had received from a serious accident.
But when the money ran out he continued buying cars.
An MG, which had been bought legitimately, was part exchanged at King Street Motors, on October 20, 2010, for a Peugeot 206.
He wrote a cheque for �740 which bounced.
Three days later he paid off debts of �10,000 at the dealership, using a cheque which also bounced.
He then part-exchanged the Peugeot for an Audi MP 55, paying �5,150, from an account which had no funds.
The next day he swapped the Audi for an Astra, which was then part exchanged at Autokraft for the Peugeot 106 plus �1,800.
The Peugeot was then part-exchanged for another Vauxhall Astra, through a private dealer. He promised to pay �500 on top, which was never paid.
The court heard King Street Motors had not suffered a financial loss and Beevers was not given any cash penalty by the courts on top of his suspended sentence.
When The Sentinel approached the CPS for comment, we were referred to Staffordshire Police.
The police then referred us to Her Majesty's Court Service, which was unavailable for comment.
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