Llandudno Junction car sales firm boss swindled £769,000

Caernarfon Crown Court heard Gwyn Meirion Roberts has no assets

Car buyers lost a total of £769,000 to a dealer who was jailed for fraud, a judge has declared.

Gwyn Meirion Roberts, 50, of Llandudno Junction, took cash and part-exchange vehicles but failed to deliver expensive new cars to customers.

Menai Vehicle Solutions, based in Bangor, Gwynedd, had losses of £1.2m.

Roberts had no assets and a £1 nominal order was made at Caernarfon Crown Court by Judge Huw Rees during a proceeds of crime hearing on Tuesday.

Roberts had previously denied 24 allegations of fraud and one of fraudulent trading in January. He was subsequently convicted of 22 counts of fraud in February and jailed for seven years in March.

'Head in the sand'

Matthew Corbett Jones, for the prosecution, said a pension linked to Roberts was not accessible at the moment but that may be revisited in due course.

The prosecution had read from impact statements made by victims, many of whom had lost life savings and felt "humiliated and embarrassed".

One lost £53,00, paying off Audi finance because she was anxious to retain her credit reputation.

Another man's Porsche was never delivered despite him handing in a BMW and £53,000, and a man whose wife had a brain tumour lost £40,000.

At Mr Roberts' trial a defence barrister described it as "reckless, head-in-the-sand trading" as his once successful and highly regarded company became insolvent.

In mitigation, his defence said there was no actual personal gain and Roberts was in poor health.