A fraudster who conned fellow motor traders and car buying customers out of almost £500,000 has been jailed for five years and seven months.

Stafford Crown Court heard how Tyrone Daley, of Blackwood Road, Tamworth, “systematically” cheated friends and loyal customers over a 12-month period of offending after his garage – TD Service Centre at Tollgate Industrial Estate, Stafford – ceased trading in 2019.

Staffordshire Live reported that Daley had initially taken money from loan sharks and embarked on investment fraud following the demise of the business, after 20 years trading.

The court heard how he asked unsuspecting friends in the motor trade to invest in cars which he would sell. He made £461,020 from the fraud.

In a separate incident Daley took at least £4,500 from each of five different customers as payment for a car that they never received.

Daley also got friends to invest in his MoT testing centre and in a buying and selling car business with him, with one losing £167,380 in the scam.

In total, Daley's scams earnt him £476,820, Shropshire Live reported.

Daley later admitted eight charges of fraud by false representation during 2019.

Elizabeth Power, mitigating on behalf of Daley, said that “some payments had been made” to some of his victims.

She added: “He had been in business for a number of years, and he had lost his MoT testing licence due to someone he had employed, and embarked on this buying and selling cars venture but he took out a loan with a loan shark and any profits he made was absorbed by that loan shark.”

Jailing Daley, Judge Jonathan Gosling told Daley that he had “systematically, over a 12-month period, cheated loyal customers out of money they could ill-afford”.

He added: “There are other ways to deal with a business demise than to destroy the lives of others."

Commenting on Daley’s sentencing detective constable Marc Bailey of Staffordshire Police said: "Over the time period in which the offences took place, Daley stole public money which had a huge impact on his victims. Daley defrauded individuals out of money, taking advantage of their good nature and trust.

"We are pleased with the court’s decision and hope that Daley uses this time to contemplate his actions and the financial and mental impact he has had on those he has targeted."