FRAUDSTER Stuart Leary conned more than £2 million out of the government in less than six months, a court heard.

The Porsche-driving, Bournemouth-based businessman claimed to be providing education for thousands of students and received the cash after registering as a Learning Provider.

But in reality the 39-year-old conman was pocketing the cash and sending CDs which cost less than £1 each to his "students", Bournemouth Crown Court was told.

Leary, of De Courtenai Close, Bearwood, Bournemouth, pleaded guilty to two charges of fraudulent trading when he appeared at Bournemouth Crown Court.

His co-defendants, 41-year-old John Stirling from Gorbals in Glasgow and 29-year-old Steven Moran from Wolfside in Birmingham, were both found guilty of conspiracy to defraud during a trial which ended last week.

Yesterday Leary was jailed for three-and-a half-years and Stirling and Moran each received three-year jail terms.

Judge Roger Jarvis was told Leary was one of a number of offenders across the country to use the Individual Learning Account (ILA) system to defraud the government.

He set up two companies, Britannica Management Services and Britannica Learning, and operated teams of door-to-door salesmen from the Homelife House business centre in Oxford Road, Bournemouth. He offered his students "free" courses so they would not complain if the course was poor, the court heard.

The judge was told Stirling and Moran each received £70,000 in cash and a Jaguar XJ8 worth £52,000. Leary drove a Porsche valued at £80,000 and spends most of his time abroad, the court heard.

Adrian Kayne, representing Leary, said the scheme was "open to fraud" and was a "recipe for disaster waiting to happen".

He added that Leary was "utterly ashamed and devastated" about what he had done.

"He was blinded by the amount that was being generated by the scheme itself. He turned a blind eye to these practices in order to maximise the available profit margins," he said.

Brian Sharman, representing Stirling, and Chris Van Hagan, representing Moran, said their clients were sorry for what they had done and they had also turned a blind eye to what was happening.

Judge Jarvis told the trio: "Up and down the country there are men and women who are working as hard as they can to provide for themselves and their families.

"It is their efforts which provided the taxes to fund the scheme and they will be outraged to learn of the amount of money you made dishonestly in such a short period of time."

Leary was told he would be disqualified as a company director for seven years, while Stirling and Moran were told they would be disqualified from being directors for five years.

The case is the third to come to court in relation to ILAs, the judge heard. Poole businessman Mark Robertson, of Cornelia Crescent, was jailed for four years in January and 16 defendants in a case in Birmingham were given sentences up to six years. There are more cases to come.

Judge Jarvis was told the ILA system, operated by the Department for Education and Skills, was flawed.

The scheme was closed down in November 2001 when widespread misuse was revealed.

Detective Sergeant Andy Strong of the financial investigations unit of Dorset Police said: "These three men saw an opportunity to make money from a government training scheme that had been set up with the best of intentions.

"Today's sentencing - and the commencement of proceedings to recover as much of that money as possible from the three defendants - sends out a clear message to anyone intending to commit such offences, you will not profit in the long term, Dorset Police will take every possible step to recover the money you obtain unlawfully."

First published: May 27