A FRAUDSTER tricked his mother and girlfriend into returning cheap imitations of designer goods so that he could con a shop out of more than £3,000.

Christian Bailey used the pair to return cheap replacements of high-end leather bags and quilted jackets that he bought from TK Maxx to get full refunds.

Bailey, of Brighton Road, Worthing, bought the goods at the store at the Goldstone Retail Park in Hove.

He also bought items worth up to £500 from the retailer’s online shop three times, before saying they were missing from the shipments.

The offences, totalling goods to a value of £3,099, all occurred between October 20 last year up until December 14, when he was found out and arrested.

The 32-year-old former warehouse supervisor appeared at Brighton Magistrates’ Court for sentencing after pleading guilty to nine counts of fraud by false representation.

Martina Sherlock, prosecuting, told the court: “He knew it was fraudulent but thought he could get away with it.

“He asked his mother to take the bag back, who says she knew nothing about the deception.”

The court heard Bailey had nine previous convictions.

John Hunter, defending Bailey, told the court: “At the very first opportunity he said, ‘Yep, I’m guilty.’

“He was full and frank and accepted everything he had done.

“Having made a very poor decision in the first instance he made the poor decision to think, ‘Let’s try that again.’

“This was always only going to end one way and that’s how it has ended.”

Mr Hunter said Bailey had housing and financial issues and other pressures on him and “continued to act with stupidity”. He said Bailey would pay back the money, including working on Sundays, and that giving back the actual merchandise had been settled through civil means with TK Maxx.

Chairman of the bench Alison Musker told Bailey he was "extremely lucky not to go to prison.

She said: “There were a lot of offences committed over quite a long time and they were planned. It was a very planned operation.”

Bailey was given a 12-month community order comprising 300 hours of unpaid work, and has to pay back £2,618 in compensation as well as £145 court costs.

Ms Musker added: “We hope that’s the end of it and that you will never see these courts again.”