Eye man given 26 months jail sentence for fraud

A man from Eye has been sentenced after committing a series of fraud and theft offences.

Ronald Bailey, aged 72 of Cranley Road in Eye pleaded guilty to 11 offences at Ipswich Crown Court and was sentenced to 26 months in jail on Thursday 25 January.

The offences took place over a period of time stretching from November 2018 to November 2019 where he de-frauded many people out of money on the promise of car repairs and prayed on vulnerable people to loan him money.

The offences covered a variety of offences including making false representation to a female victim claiming he needed £2500 in respect of a car loan; fraudulently claiming to replace the car battery of the same victim, four cases of theft of vehicles and two cases of fraudulently making representation to two separate victims for £2500 and £4500 respectively to pursue civil claims.

There was also a further case of fraud by false representation claiming he had the authority to sell the car of a victim, a case of false representation claiming he would undertake restoration work on a car and another fraud by false representation where Bailey claimed to repair faulty car locks.

He was found not guilty of two other offences – one in February 2017 for fraud and another case of fraud in late 2019. Half the sentence will be served in prison with the other half on licence.

Sgt Dan Peck said: “Bailey’s ruthless and scheming character saw him exploit the vulnerable for his own financial gains and showed no remorse for his actions. I estimate he fraudulently gained around £13,000 through his deception. He will now have plenty of time to reflect on his mercenary activities during his jail sentence in the coming months ahead.”