The manager of a Vauxhall dealership ended a “glowing” career with a suspended prison sentence after selling the franchise's part-ex stock for his own gain.

Richard Davison, of Lapwing Drive, Hampton-in-Arden, pleaded guilty to defrauding Drive Vauxhall’s Leamington business by false representation in a scam which made him just £5,500 but cost him a 25-year career in the motor trade.

A Judge at Warwick Crown Court heard that 47-year-old Davison, the dealership’s former general manager, had circumvented a system which saw older part-exchange vehicles traded on or sold to a firm called Rewarding Recycling for a nominal fee.

Reporting from court, the Leamington Observer stated that Davison had begun recording saleable vehicles as having gone for scrap before selling them via Auto Trader for his own profit.

Davison, who was of previous good character, was suspended and then dismissed after his bosses discovered what he had been up to, and admitted his offences upon arrest, the Observer reported.

The total value of the cars taken was around £12,000 but, taking into account the scrap value Davison had paid in, his scam made him around £5,500.

Kate Hatton, mitigating, said: “He is extremely remorseful for what happened, and is ashamed of himself. The impact on him has been profound.”

Sentencing Davison to ten months in prison, suspended for two years, with a 200-hour unpaid work requirement and £7,354 compensation bill, Judge Andrew Lockhart QC said: “It is a very sad day to see a man of 47 years of age, with a glowing career in the motor industry, before this court for offences of this gravity.”