A businessman has been jailed for 27 months after he took internet orders for fireplaces which were never delivered.

West Yorkshire Trading Standards received more than 100 complaints about Home Fireside Ltd run by Andrew Michael James in 2011, who had a unit in Havelock Street, Ravensthorpe, but operated via two websites.

Rukhshanda Hussain prosecuting told Leeds Crown Court fortunately most of the customers had paid for their order using credit cards which entitled them to reclaim payments under the Consumer Credit Act.

The loser was WorldPay UK who had to reimburse them through the internet. They had repaid more than 300 clients losing a total of £121,674.32 as a result.

She said when complaints were first received in July 2011 a trading standards officer spoke to James and arranged to meet him but he failed to attend and further complaints were received. Officers subsequently attended his then home in Huddersfield Road, Holmfirth where documents were seized leading them to the unit where copies of complaints and repayments were found.

When James was spoken to he blamed the man he had bought the website from saying it was his fault deliveries had not been made.

“We say he was fully aware of the non-delivery of goods but continued to trade in a fraudulent manner,” she told the court.

Neil Murphy for James said it was accepted he had not been dishonest from the outset but from around three weeks into the operation and realised he should have done something then.

“He has been very foolish and should have co-operated sooner.”

He said the house in Holmfirth had now been repossessed and James and his wife were living in rented accommodation and he was working as a training consultant.

James, 53 of Top o the Hill, Thurnstonland, admitted fraudulent trading and was also disqualified from being a company director for 10 years.