A NEW Quay drainage company boss has been given a suspended sentence after he swindled customers out of £24,000 for work he never carried out.

Graham Bell took payments and deposits from customers all over Devon who wanted new water tanks or pumps but failed to turn up to do the jobs.

He fobbed them off with excuses and moved his business to different addresses in south Devon and north Wales.

He ripped off nine customers, including clients in Kingsbridge, Budleigh Salterton and Teignmouth.

Trading standards officers received more complaints, including one from a customer in France, but only took nine cases to court.

Bell, aged 66, of Llandysul Road, New Quay, admitted nine counts of fraud and was jailed for 21 months, suspended for two years, and was given a curfew for three months by Judge Erik Salomonsen at Exeter Crown Court.

He told him: “You failed to supply goods and continued to take money from clients who believed in your bona fides and thought you were going to deliver the goods.

“You carried on in a dishonest way with the nine clients and fobbed off the customers with excuses. Eventually, and not surprisingly, they went to Trading Standards.

“They undertook research and found you were charging VAT when you were not registered. In one case your intent is shown by your using the VAT number of a firm with a similar name.

“It may have been an aberration but it went on for a year to 18 months. You knew exactly what you were doing. No compensation has been paid so far to customers.”

Tom Bradnock, prosecuting, said the frauds occurred in 2012 and 2013 when Bell was running a firm called Tanks and Pumps Direct from addresses in Torquay and Paignton.

Records showed he was taking money when there was no realistic prospect of him being able to buy the equipment from his former suppliers.

Customers who tried to complain or get their money back were fobbed off and baffled by his use of different addresses and numbers.

The total amount defrauded from the nine complainants was £24,900.

Joss Ticehurst, defending, said Bell had run his own successful business for 15 years after being made redundant from his high-powered job as marketing director for a major drainage supply company.

He ran into financial trouble after suffering two heart attacks, an industrial injury, and a fire at his business.

He hoped to be able to supply the customers but could not access the goods. He still hopes to pay compensation from his £1,200 a month earnings as a drainage consultant.

Mr Ticehurst said the shame of this case has cost him his marriage and led to him becoming estranged from his family. His two dogs will have to be destroyed if he is sent to jail.

He said: “He has entered the second half of his life and has ruined it. He has ruined his reputation and that is quite a significant punishment in itself.”