SERIAL FRAUDSTER HANDED DOWN FURTHER PRISON SENTENCE FOR FRAUD
A serial fraudster from Bradford is beginning a 33-month prison sentence after attempting to sell heavy earth-moving machinery that he didn’t own.
One victim paid Anthony Gribbin £10,200 in two instalments for heavy equipment that didn’t exist and later received only a partial refund.
Another potential buyer became suspicious when offered a Telehandler lifting machine and, on learning it had already been sold to someone else in Australia, refused to hand over the £32,500 asking price.
An earlier fake sale had netted conman Gribbin a further £27,000.
Gribbin, 47, of Leaventhorpe Hall Equestrian Centre on Thornton Road in Bradford, who appeared via video link from HMP Leeds for sentencing at Bradford Crown Court, has previous convictions for similar offences.
In April 2012 he was jailed for two-and-a-half years after selling on more than £200,000 of stolen farming and construction machinery.
In February 2015 Gribbin was convicted for false representation of game and he was again sent to prison in May 2016 – for two years – for handling stolen goods.
In February 2023 he received two years and four months behind bars for claiming more than £100,000 in VAT through submitting false invoices.
He was also banned from acting as the director of a company for six years.
Bradford Crown Court heard how, in September last year, Gribbin negotiated a price of £10,200 with a customer to buy a piece of heavy machinery and money was paid in two instalments.
But Gribbin “put him off” with excuses when it came to collecting the machinery, which left him frustrated, and he asked for a refund.
Gribbin offered a partial refund of £1,200 and a credit note.
Mr Recorder Simon Kealey KC said: “In fact the vehicle you offered to sell him had already been sold.
“It must have been apparent from the outset that this was a fraudulent transaction.”
In December 2024 Gribbin offered a Telehandler machine for sale and a £32,500 price was agreed but when the buyer made checks he found it had been sold to someone in Australia.
Recorder Kealey said: “In those circumstances he made no payment to you despite your requests for him to do so and indeed when you offered another vehicle for sale, he declined.”
The court also heard that Gribbin had previously offered a JCB for sale in 2020 for £27,000 but although the sale went through the buyer was visited by police who told him the vehicle had been stolen.
Gribbin pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud by false representation and contravening a disqualification order / undertaking made under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986.
Mitigating, Sean Smith said Gribbin’s fraud was not sophisticated in nature and that whilst the anticipated loss was £76,000 the actual loss was £34,000 with one buyer not losing out at all.
Sentencing Gribbin, Recorder Kealey said: “There are elements of a sophisticated nature. You attempted to pretend that these [transactions] were legitimate.
“There were attempts to provide false information to the potential purchasers.”
He handed Gribbin 33 months on each count of fraud, to be served concurrently, plus six months for contravening the disqualification order, also concurrent.
Gribbin will serve up to half of that period in custody and then be released on licence.
He is still subject to the banning order, which expires in 2029.
