Sheffield Crown Court: Fraudster is jailed after he conned a man out of £19,500 during bogus car sales

Sheffield Crown Court heard on August 9 how Christopher O’Flaherty, aged 54, of Bonington Rise, in Maltby, Rotherham, had been working for a company that repaired accident-damaged vehicles and after he agreed to sell three cars to a buyer he received the cash but never delivered the vehicles.

Amy Earnshaw, prosecuting, said O’ Flaherty had access to work details concerning three damaged vehicles including an Audi SQ5, a BMW M6 and a Golf R which he agreed to sell to the buyer for £19,500.

But after the buyer transferred the money to an account provided by O’Flaherty he never received the vehicles, according to Ms Earnshaw, and all further communication was blocked.

Ms Earnshaw said: “He was prepared to pay and buy all three vehicles and he transferred £19,500 to the defendant’s bank account. The defendant said he would sort the paperwork and send the keys to his address. It never occurred.”

O’Flaherty originally told the complainant payment would go directly to the insurance company to release the vehicles which he had found unusual but the defendant had offered reassurances that he had known him a long time and he would not let him down.

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The complainant stated he had been left devastated that someone he knew could do this with inheritance money from his late father and especially after he had been struggling with Crohn’s disease and family bereavements.

O’Flaherty, who has 14 previous convictions including offences of theft and fraud, pleaded guilty to the fraud which was committed between March 1 and March 4, 2018.

Defence barrister Dermot Hughes claimed O’Flaherty, who has health problems, has a genuine desire to pay the complainant back but Judge Graham Robinson said there was no such reliable evidence.

Judge Robinson said the effect of O’Flaherty’s offending upon the complainant had been severe.

He told O’Flaherty: “In his personal statement he said he was devastated, and hardly surprising, because a friend had conned him and he is not in good health with Crohn’s disease and as a result of this he became a recluse.”

Judge Robinson sentenced O’Flaherty to 12 months of custody and ordered that the defendant’s assets be seized to help repay the complainant.