Fraudster sold oblivious farmer's machinery online

Connor Smith scammed a man out of £1,000 by fraudulently selling him another farmer's cultivator (file photo)

A convicted paedophile who conned a man out of £1,000 by selling him another farmer's equipment without the owner's knowledge has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Connor Smith, 28, advertised a cultivator for sale on Facebook and agreed to sell it to a farmer in October 2023, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

But as the buyer was towing it away, the owner of the equipment turned up and asked what was going on, the court heard.

Smith, who had a previous conviction for engaging in sexual communications with a child, admitted fraud by false representation. He was jailed for eight months suspended for a year with 150 hours unpaid work.

Smith was also ordered to pay the buyer £1,000 compensation.

After being contacted by a farmer who was interested in the equipment, Smith took the man to a barn at a farm in Northumberland and showed him the cultivator, the court heard.

Smith claimed the farm was abandoned and he wanted rid of the equipment as he was planning to demolish the barn, prosecutors said.

The farmer reckoned the cultivator was worth about £4,000 so, believing he had got a bargain, he paid £1,000 in cash.

Smith then left but as the farmer hooked the machine to his tractor and made to leave, a man in a pickup truck pulled up and accused him of stealing it, the court heard.

Pleas for an alibi

It quickly transpired the man was the farmer and owner of the cultivator and had not given anyone permission to sell it, adding it had been £50,000 when new and was now worth about £15,000, the court heard.

Police were called and traced Smith to an address in Percy Main in North Shields.

A probe of Smith's phone revealed messages with the buyer, admissions to a friend that he had committed fraud and needed a lawyer and pleas to his mother to give him an alibi in Birmingham, the court heard.

Smith, whose address was given as Charles Street in Leicester, had one previous conviction for engaging in sexual communications with a child from May 2023, for which he was given a community order and 100 hours unpaid work.