Judge gives internet fraudster second chance
A serial cyberspace fraudster jailed by the High Court for allegedly using credit card details after setting up bogus chain store websites has been freed from prison.
Craig Cottrell, 23, of Reading, was imprisoned last week for a year over a scam in which he allegedly encouraged Marks & Spencer customers to disclose their credit card details on a rogue internet site.
He then used the details fraudulently for his own use and left the customer to believe the website had crashed, the court had heard.
But Mr Justice Lightman, sitting in London, has cut the sentence to three months and suspended it - effectively allowing Cottrell to leave court free of the three guards who flanked him throughout the hearing.
The judge said the sentence would be suspended for 12 months, "conditional on your not committing any other contempt within that period".
He must now hand over the documents or face re-imprisonment.
"I shall order you to be released from prison forthwith," the judge said.
But he added: "You have got off more lightly than you deserve. I am giving you this last chance but next time it will be much more serious."
Cottrell, who also has an address in Skellingthorpe, Lincoln, was sentenced on March 8 for contempt of court orders requiring him to hand over documents relating to the alleged scam.
Counsel for Marks & Spencer, Shirley Boothroyd, told that hearing Cottrell also set up fake websites in the names of Tesco, Cadbury and Legoland.
"This is classic fraud by a serial cyberspace fraudster who is a public menace" she said.
