AN internet fraudster conned three people out of cash after promising them phones they never received.

Reece Brennan advertised the phones on the Gumtree website and told buyers their phones were on the way after they paid money into a bank account.

But Chelmsford Crown Court heard yesterday how Brennan never sent anything and when the buyers tried to complain, there was no response.

Brennan, 29, sold the same phone twice but he was traced after one buyer told the police in Cornwall and officers traced a mobile phone number back to Brennan.

He had been due to face trial on three fraud charges but changed his pleas to guilty yesterday.

He was jailed for nine months suspended for two years and given a 120 hour work order.

Judge Christopher Ball QC also told Brennan to pay the three losers compensation - a total of £540.

The court heard a woman in Cornwall contacted police after an iPhone she paid £165 for in August last year failed to turn up.

Brennan, from Knox Road, Clacton, also sold the same Samsung Galaxy twice in October for £185 and £190.

Sasha Bailey, mitigating, said Brennan had spend the equivalent of four months on remand in jail after he failed to turn up for an earlier court hearing.

He had a gambling problem but his time in jail has helped him to change his life, Miss Bailey said.

She added: "He does not want to get involved in the criminal justice system again.”