TWO men have been jailed and another handed a suspended sentence for their roles in a half million pound plant machinery ringing scam.

The operation saw high value equipment and vehicles stolen from building sites and plant hire firms across the north of England and sold on eBay on cloned registration plates.

MORE TOP STORIES:

Matthew Hartley, 43, Ronald Goss, 59, and Oliver Young, 34, were convicted of handling stolen goods after Preston Crown Court heard they were involved in the buying and selling of excavators, rollers and a campervan with a combined value of over £400,000.

The scam came to light when staff at the National Plant and Equipment Register noticed a high number of searches were being carried out by Matthew Hartley, using an account registered in Goss’s name.

Police launched an investigation and identified 20 vehicles that had been stolen from Leeds, Bradford, and sites in the North of England.

On two occasions, Young, of Edgeside Lane, Waterfoot, had e-mailed photographs of cloned registration plates to Hartley.

The court heard once their identities had been changed, the vehicles were sold on through eBay to buyers in Wales, the Isle of Wight, Scotland and around Middlesbrough.

The vehicles were later seized in the course of the police investigation and none of the buyers – who bought the machinery in good faith – have been reimbursed.

The court heard Goss, of Dean Road, Haslingden, accepted payment into his bank account for the vehicles, before paying it on to Hartley, taking a £500 cut per transaction.

He pleaded guilty to four counts of handling stolen goods, Yates to two counts and Hartley was convicted of six counts following a trial.

Hartley, of Bacup Road, Cliviger, was jailed for 15 months, Goss was jailed for 14 months and Young was handed a 30 week sentence, suspended for 18 months, with 200 hours of unpaid work.