A 'FAILED' businessman turned to fraud, conning Co-op bank out of thousands.

Clive Coombes, who ran Totton-based electrical firm Lewisons Wholesale, was in charge of an account that fleeced the bank out of £119,700 in 2013. He has been jailed for three years.

Southampton Crown Court heard that Coombes, who had tried to takeover the defunct Comet brand, was part of a group that stole the identity of an unsuspecting member of the public and changed their details in order to commit the fraud.

The court was told that Coombes then tried to cover up the fraud with “bogus” documents.

He pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud and covering criminal property, but a jury found the 47-year-old guilty.

Prosecuting, James Newton-Price, said Coombes and a group of men were “sophisticated in their approach to the charges”.

Mr Newton-Price told the court that Daniel Verge’s details were stolen and then changed on the phone when they contacted Co-op bank. Mr Verge’s four digit pin were changed as well as a telephone number.

Sums of £29,500 and £200 were moved to an account called Hot Jewel Metro - which belonged to Coombes.

After the successful phone transfers, one of the group then “duped operatives inside the bank by pretending to be Mr Verge” and shifting £90,000 from the victim’s account to Coombes’.

Mr Newton-Price said that after Coombes was arrested he then tried to “cover up the fraud” by creating “bogus documents, fake loan agreements and forms”.

In 2014, after his initial arrest, he told newspapers that he hoped to open 80 stores across the south of England.

According to business publication The Register the firm had notched up eight County Court Judgements totalling £125,000 by the end of the year.

Mitigating, Gordon Ross said that his client was the “fall guy in the operation as it was just the accounts that were in his name. Clearly when one looks at his past history he is a failed businessman, failing over and over again.”

Mr Ross added: “It was never really clear to which part of the fraud he played just that they were his accounts.”

Sentencing Coombes, of New Inn Lane, Bartley, Judge Peter Henry QC dismissed Mr Ross’ claims that his clients’ dyslexia played a part in his actions.

He said: “There are many people in this world who suffer with dyslexia, many brilliant and intelligent people.”

The judge added: “You are a businessman who was failing and there is no doubt that this is why you indulged in this enterprise.”