A builder turned to car dealing and clocked second hand cars to make £6,000.

Time was up for Russell Armstrong when Trading Standards officers minuted his movements at Chelmsford and Colchester.

Now father-of-three Armstrong is doing time and must pay a total of £5,575 compensation to four victims who bought his clocked cars.

Armstrong, 40, of Hillfoot Road, Collier Row, Romford, admitted 16 charges of applying false trade descriptions to eight cars between May 2000 and December 2001.

Jailing Armstrong for 15 months Judge Ben Pearson told him, "You embarked upon a deliberate and sophisticated criminal scheme which was not only dishonest but extremely dangerous to members of the public.

"The clocking of cars will not be tolerated. It puts purchasers and users of vehicles in a position where they cannot rely upon vehicles with low mileages but could be endangering themselves and other road users."

A £1,300 Mondeo car seized by trading standards officers from Armstrong will be sold to offset the costs of the Essex County Council investigation, the judge directed.

Christine Agnew, prosecuting, said Armstrong bought eight cars at auction, turned the clocks back a total of 609,212 miles and within days put them into auctions in Chelmsford and Colchester.

Paul Raudnitz, mitigating, said Armstrong came out of the building trade when his father died because the business nose dived. He then turned to dishonest acts with cars. He was ashamed and genuinely expressed remorse to his victims.

Published Tuesday, January 14, 2003

Brought to you by the Essex Chronicle