A TYCROES man, who conned a car dealership out of more than £44,000 pounds, has been jailed for three years.

Daniel Joseph O’Connell, of Cooper’s Estate, conned his Bassetts Honda Swansea employers out of more than £44,251 over the course of two years and stole from friends in order to feed his cocaine habit.

Swansea crown court heard that O’Connell used his knowledge of the security system at the dealership to take cash from the safe on two separate occasions, taking £740 and then £800.

The 28-year-old had also admitted to 54 fraudulent transactions, involving creating false invoices of work carried, totalling £44,251, between January 2013 and January 2015. O’Connell had created the false accounts to cover for him taking cash from customers or refunding payments to his own credit card.

His fraud was exposed following an audit carried out because of financial irregularities and when O’Connell was suspended pending an investigation it also emerged he had taken one of the firm’s cars, without consent and without insurance, and loaned it to his mother.

Chris Vosper QC also heard O’Connell had pleaded guilty to two unrelated counts of theft, relating to him taking a iPhone, iPad, and car keys from a flat in Swansea in May and to then using the keys to take a Ford Fiesta without consent and to driving it without insurance.

Other charges which O’Connell admitted to were stealing jewellery from a home in Morriston in May and to committing a burglary at the same address-taking a bass guitar and Playstation and X Box consoles and games.

In mitigation Chris John, defence, said the effect of O’Connell’s cocaine habit had been quite tangible.

Stating that there was no alternative to custody, Judge Vosper sentenced O’Connell to two years imprisonment for fraud and 12 months for burglary, with the sentences to run concurrently.