A MIDDLEWICH dad-to-be who tried to con a businessman out of a consignment of Mercedes vans has been jailed for six months.

William Boswell, 19, posed as his Irish uncle, John Brown, while tricking Stephen Turner out of £5,550 for the vehicles.

Mr Turner, who had paid the cash upfront for the vans, was given a number of excuses by the fictional 'Mr Brown' as to why the vehicles could not be delivered, Chester Crown Court was told yesterday, Tuesday.

Eventually Mr Turner called in the police and Boswell told them his uncle, John Brown, had been visiting from Ireland and had used his mobile phone and building society account for business dealings.

But 'Mr Brown' had also carried out three separate deals with three other men during the same period - they all testified that 'Mr Brown' and Boswell were the same man.

Boswell, of Kitfield Avenue, admitted obtaining money by deception from Mr Turner and one charge of theft.

The court heard Boswell had first acquired the vans via an advert in a motor trade magazine.

He had arranged for a logistics firm to transport the vans from the seller's premises in Motherwell, Scotland, to an address near the M6 in Cheshire.

But when the transport firm's driver arrived at that address, four men took the keys to the van from him and drove away in the vehicles.

Drinking

The transport firm was never paid the £450 fee for delivering the vehicles for Boswell.

Sarah Neild, defending, said the offences had been committed while the defendant was drinking heavily.

Her client had now turned his life around and his new wife, who had supported him throughout the court proceedings, was expecting their first baby.

Boswell was prepared to pay compensation to Mr Turner and the logistics company, she added.

Jailing Boswell, Judge David Hale noted that the defendant had another previous offence on his criminal record for deception.

He told Boswell: "You must understand that if you commit offences of dishonesty, this will lead to longer sentences."

PC Mike Senior, from Middlewich CAT team, said: "We are delighted that there has been a successful prosecution which has led to a custodial sentence for this abhorrent disregard for the law.

"The fact that Judge Hale at Chester Crown Court has taken into account previous offences of dishonesty shows the seriousness of the offences and that any form of theft or deception will not be tolerated in Middlewich or Cheshire.

"It's pleasing to see such a result at the end of what was a lot of work by officers from the CAT team and the investigation team in Middlewich.

"Let this be a lesson to anyone who believes they can get away with similar offences - officers will not let cases lie and will continue to investigate no matter how long it takes.

"I hope this sentence sends out a message to criminals and acts as some form of closure for the victim of this crime."