VICTIMS of dodgy car dealer Jerry Swain, who has been jailed for a year for fraud, have spoken of the way he conned them out of money.

Swain, who was sentenced at Swindon Crown Court on Friday, took vehicles from customers on 'sale or return' telling them he would give them a cut of the cash when he found buyers.

But once the 68-year-old grandfather of Maryport Street, Devizes, had flogged the cars, caravans and motor homes, instead of passing on the money, he told 'bare faced lies' and kept the cash for himself.

And after a report of his conviction appeared in the Gazette many more people came forward to Wiltshire Trading Standards with complaints about Swain, who operated from Cannings Hill Garage, Swindon Crown Court was told.

Edward Elton, prosecuting, said all 10 offences he admitted followed the same pattern where he took advantage of vulnerable car sellers.

Swain, who has been bankrupt 'three or four times' in the past, would offer to act as middle man at his garage to sell the cars for them, said Mr Elton.

An amount which would go to the owner would be agreed and Swain would keep whatever he sold it for above that figure.

But he didn't tell them when the cars were sold, and when he was asked he would lie about them being in the garage, or on approval.

The seller of a motor home even spoke to the new owner and when he asked Swain for his money he was given a cheque that bounced.

Mr Elton said the victims were all vulnerable by distance, some had emigrated, or circumstance as they were selling vehicles for sick or deceased relatives.

And while many got county court judgments against him only one ever got all of his money back and that was after more than two years and sending in bailiffs.

Mr Elton said that the total amount he cheated the 10 victims out of was £23,300, with about £17,200 still outstanding after he paid back some of the cash.

Swain pleaded guilty to ten counts of fraud at an earlier hearing.

Mr Elton said: "After the publicity of the previous hearing, in 21 days there have been a decent number of new fraud complaints to Trading Standards about Mr Swain."

Robert Morgan-Jones, defending, said that his client was disorganised and initially hoped he could trade out of the tough times.

But as he struggled with cash flow he accepted he turned to acting dishonestly and not handing over money to the car's owners.

He said Swain had always worked in the car trade and had no previous convictions of any sort.

Since the investigation he said that he was working as a sole trader alongside another man and aimed to repay everything he owed.

Passing sentence Judge Peter Blair QC said: "It is plain what happened is, with you being pretty hopeless at managing your finances and cash flow in your business, the easy option was for you to rob Peter to pay Paul.

"I have heard you have been bankrupt in the past so you are not someone who is a stranger to the importance of keeping your finances in a trustworthy and honest way.

"You proved to be a bare faced liar, lying to them repeatedly when they came to you asking for their money.

"You lied to them when they asked about whether a transaction had taken place to sell their vehicle: you lied to them every which way you could to get them off your back.

"If this had been the odd occasion, one offence here one offence there, one might have understood that these were aberrations on your behalf but you face 10 similar offences.

"There is very little difference than taking people's cars off their drives or garaged for your own purposes. The total in this I am told is £23,300."

He said that Swain would have to return to court later in the year for a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing and he would consider whether to ban him from acting as a company director.

A group set up in Devizes to try and get action against Swain said after the sentencing: "This was well overdue. Although a small sentence it shows the people his victims in the Devizes area that there is justice after all."