A NETWORK of fraudsters who were behind a car-clocking scam amounting to more than seven million miles have been jailed following a three-year investigation involving Warrington Borough Council.

John Murphy, 67, and Paul Arslanian, 38, from Conwy, Christopher Graham Lunt, 39, from Chester, Trevor Jones, 58, from Colwyn Bay, and Simon Williams, 49, from Frodsham, were sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court after being convicted of conspiracy to commit fraud.

Murphy now faces three years in prison while Arslanian was handed a sentence of two years and three months.

Lunt was sentenced to 20 months behind bars while Williams was handed an 18-month jail term.

Jones was sentenced to 15 months in prison.

This follows an investigation by Warrington Borough Council and Halton Borough Council’s trading standards – the biggest probe of its kind by the teams.

The defendants, who worked for Runcorn-based chauffeur services company PCS Events Ltd, operated a widespread system of clocking the cars in their possession.

It was found that more than 100 vehicles had been clocked with evidence of this type of criminal activity taking place from 2008 to 2014. 

As well as gathering evidence against Murphy, Arslanian, Lunt, and Jones for altering the mileage of cars in the possession of PCS Events Ltd, trading standards officers also obtained evidence of links to Williams, who carried out MOT testing of the clocked vehicles, producing documents which showed incorrect mileage. 

Dave Watson, regulatory services manager at Warrington Borough Council, said: “This successful prosecution is down to a meticulous investigation carried out over a number of years by trading standards. 

"No stone was left unturned in building this case, and it shows how trading standards are making a real difference in the fight against fraud.”