Trowbridge car dealer fraudster jailed

A car salesman who plundered thousands of pounds from a car dealership in Trowbridge has been jailed for eight months.

Jonathan White, of Frome Road, Southwick, sobbed in the dock as he was told he had to be jailed for the protracted deception on his employers. The 39-year-old was caught out after bosses at Platinum Toyota in Trowbridge received a parking ticket for a car he had illicitly sold.

Claire Marlow, prosecuting, told Swindon crown court White had left the company when the fine was sent to the firm. He had been dismissed for not complying with company policy of putting all trade in vehicles through auction, she said, and had instead been selling them direct.

Having received the parking ticket the firm's records said the Vauxhall Astra had been sold to a dealer in Somerset. But when they contacted him they found he had no knowledge of the vehicle which caused a review of other deals carried out by White.

Miss Marlow said that a number of other cars were either not sold to who it was claimed on paperwork or had changed hands for different amounts.

The branch manager of the dealership met up with White to try and establish what had happened and, not satisfied with his explanation, contacted the police.

A total of 28 other deals were found to be incorrect dating from the end of 2003 until White was dismissed in April 2005. In one of the deceptions the paperwork said a buyer was said to have paid £4,250 for a Toyota Rav4 and Suzuki Vitara but he had only received the first vehicle. She told the court that the total amount lost to the company by the defendant's actions was in the region of £7,200.

White pleaded guilty to 16 counts of false accounting and asked for 13 further matters to be taken into consideration.

Charles Gabb, defending, said that his client had admitted what he had done wrong when he was questioned by police and pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity. He added that his client was also a hard working man who had got himself a new job after leaving the dealership, but felt obliged to resign when he was arrested: "He knows by his appearance here today that his fall from grace is substantial and it is his own fault," he said.

Jailing him, Recorder Michael Cullum said "I am sorry to tell you I have to impose a period of immediate custody. The total was £7,200. The period over which these offences occurred was protracted."

He said he stole from employers from whom he "received considerable remuneration" and took a new job knowing he had committed the undetected fraud.

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