Fraudster tenant jailed for trying to sell Cambridge house

Andrew Smith tried to sell the house he rented less than two weeks after moving in, police said

A tenant who tried to sell the house he rented has been jailed.

Andrew Smith's "brazen crime" was identified when a prospective buyer for the three-bed house in Argyle Street, Cambridge, organised a property survey, Cambridgeshire Police said.

It said less than two weeks after moving in, Smith put the house up for sale on a fake estate agency website.

Smith, from Bedfordshire, was jailed for two years and six months at Brighton Magistrates' Court.

Cambridgeshire Police said the prospective buyer, who had made an offer in excess of £400,000, was visiting the house in June for a drain survey when neighbours told him they believed the house was tenanted and not for sale.

He was advised to contact the letting agent and then he contacted police.

Officers discovered many documents Smith had provided to the letting agent when he rented the property were fraudulent.

He was arrested in Bedford and pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation and entering into money laundering.

The 41-year-old, of Gardeners Close, Flitwick, was sentenced to two years and six months in prison at Brighton Magistrates' Court on Friday.

Det Con Dan Harper said: "This is an almost unbelievable and truly brazen crime, which saw an innocent buyer almost part with more than £400,000 for a property that was never for sale in the first place.

"The investigation has been long and detailed and we have worked tirelessly to make sure justice has been served."