Ill fraudster wanted to help mum
A fraudster with a terminal illness wrote out bogus cheques for £24,000 of goods so he could "leave something behind for his mother".
Paul Connell, aged 27, wrote out 11 cheques for goods including furniture and a new kitchen, when he did not have the funds to pay for them.
Northampton Crown Court heard he suffered from Addison's disease and wanted to leave behind a legacy for his mother.
Michael Waterfield, prosecuting, said Connell opened a joint account in December 2008 but it was closed after only a month, due to "unsatisfactory conduct". But he used the issued cheque book to pay for goods, and the cheques went on to "bounce".
Mr Waterfield said: "The kitchen of his home was taken out but the cheque bounced before the new one could be installed. That would have been poetic justice except for the fact it was not his flat but rented."
Connell, of Yewtree Court, Boothville, Northampton, pleaded guilty to 11 fraud charges, amounting to 24,502, from June 6 to July 10 last year.
Judge Ian Alexander QC sentenced him to 12 months' imprisonment, suspended for two years, with a year's probation supervision. He said: "This is a very serious series of frauds. It was not a one- off. It was repeated fraud, using cheques when you had no money and you must have been well aware.
"It's unfortunate for you that you suffer Addison's disease and the prognosis is not good. I'm not going to send you to prison. But what you have got to understand is, you cannot, hereafter, use that excuse again. The best way you can leave a good memory and assist your mother is by going to see her and being a good son. If you commit another wave of fraud, you will serve this sentence and anything else on top. Sadly, if you should die in prison, that's a matter entirely of your own choosing."
Richard Holloway, defending, said: "He wanted to leave something behind for his mother. It was not the best way of going about it but perhaps his mental state was not in the best form."
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