Ipswich holiday caravan fraud man jailed

A man who conned tens of thousands of pounds from people by renting out caravans he did not own has been jailed for three years and four months.

Michael Fisher, 45, of Jamestown Boulevard, Ipswich, admitted fraud at the end of June just before he was due to go to trial.

He was sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court.

Suffolk Trading Standards prosecuted the case after receiving complaints from members of the public.

Fisher, formerly the manager and owner of Blue Sky Lettings and Lucy's Caravan Holidays, swindled money from customers who paid him to rent holiday caravans at Butlins in Skegness that Fisher had never owned.

The court heard in 2009 he took more than 200 bookings from consumers nationwide in the knowledge he did not own any caravans and attempted to pay staff, consumers and other businesses over £130,000 using cheques from accounts that never had more than a few hundred pounds in or had been closed down.

After receiving initial complaints from members of the public, Trading Standards stepped in to shut down the businesses in April 2009.