A fake landlord who was ordered to carry out community service after he conned potential tenants out of thousands of pounds was back in the dock yesterday after he failed to carry out his punishment.
Thomas Harrison took nearly £4,000 from three people with the promise that they would be able to rent a flat in Aberdeen’s Union Grove.
However Harrison, who the court heard had a “ferocious gambling habit”, kept the cash and changed the locks leaving his victims substantially out of pocket.
In December, Sheriff William Summers ordered the 31-year-old to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work and placed him under supervision for 18 months.
He also imposed a compensation order requiring he pay back his victims all the money he had fraudulently obtained from them.
Sheriff Summers said the order was imposed as a direct alternative to custody and said if he had imposed a prison sentence his victims would still be out of pocket.
But yesterday, Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard Harrison had failed to comply with the order and his victims have still not been repaid.
The unemployed security guard carried out three separate fraudulent offences between March 5 and April 2 last year.
The court previously heard that Harrison had fallen into debt after losing his job in January 2013.
Solicitor Bruce MacDonald told the court his client’s gambling habit had added to his financial difficulties.
Yesterday Sheriff Annella Cowan said she was not going to send him to prison, despite the order being imposed as a direct alternative to custody.
She told Harrison, of 7 Hatton Farm Road, Hatton, that she believed Sheriff Summers made the right decision by keeping him out of jail.
She said: “There is absolutely no chance of you paying back your victims if you are in jail. So you will pay an additional fine of £1,000 and whatever happens you are going to pay that compensation.
“If you don’t you are going to jail.”