A DORSET car trader found guilty of clocking car mileages has been ordered to pay out nearly £39,000 or face a spell in prison.

David Metcalfe, of David’s Lane, Ringwood, was ordered to pay £35,950 under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, along with Dorset County Council’s legal costs of £2,830.

He has six months to pay the full amount or face a prison sentence of 12 months.

There is also a restraint order on his house, which means it cannot be sold until the confiscation payment is made.

Metcalfe, who also went by the name of David O’Connor, had previously pleaded guilty to five offences – two of applying false mileage descriptions to cars, two of attempting to obtain consumers’ money by deception and one of obtaining a customer’s money by deception using a false vehicle mileage.

He admitted reducing the recorded mileages of three cars at his business Egmont Motors, which were sold in 2004 and 2005. Prosecutors said a BMW 330 had its mileage reduced from 125,000 to 72,000, a Toyota Rav 4 had its mileage reduced from 102,000 to 74,000 and a Nissan X-Trail was reduced from 117,000 to 69,000.

When sentenced at Bournemouth Crown Court, 59-year-old Metcalfe was given a three month suspended prison sentence and ordered to carry out 120 hours unpaid work in the community.

Bill Jaggs, head of regulatory services at Dorset County Council, said: “Working under a partnership agreement with Dorset Police on financial investigations, with modernised and powerful legislation, has meant that the age-old fraud of selling clocked cars can at last be met with very serious financial penalties.

“Car dealers who flout the law undermine the image of their trade.”