Court told of `greedy' man's life of luxury

A MAN who lived the high life after fleecing people out of more than £20,000 has been jailed.

Michael Murphy, 21, had lived a life of luxury in a detached, four-bedroomed home kitted out with all the latest gadgets - bought with the £22,000 proceeds from his internet crime.

He used his parents' address in Heckmondwike to receive cheques and bankers' drafts sent to pay for fictitious goods - while he lived in a luxurious, £850- a-month rented house in the stockbroker belt of Cheshire.

When police raided his Kingsmere home they found it had an amazing stash of goods, including three plasma screen TVs, a surround sound system and four computers.

Officers also recovered £7,000 and a deed poll certificate he had used to change his name to Michael Quinn.

Murphy, who pleaded guilty to 11 counts of deception, had used two eBay auction site accounts to sell non-existent goods.

He lured his customers into a sense of false security by giving himself positive feedback as a seller, which was then posted on the site.

At Leeds Crown Court Mr Recorder Reeds told Murphy: "While I am prepared to accept there are elements of the fantasist about you - to the extent that you are described by one of your referees as suffering from delusions of grandeur - you are a young man with considerable intelligence.

"I'm quite sure you set about putting that intelligence to work to benefit yourself in this dishonest way."

After each auction Murphy would contact the successful bidder via email and encourage them to save cash by sending him the money directly in a cheque, rather than using a safer electronic payment system.

He then sent out empty packages to false addresses and used the parcel's serial numbers to convince the customers he had posted their goods.

Murphy's lawyer, Fiona Dix-Dyer, said he had been motivated purely by greed.

She told the court he had moved out of his parents' home three years ago after refusing a job at his father's printing business.

He had not spoken to his father for 14 months before the offences and was not close to his mother, added Ms Dix-Dyer.