An Ipswich man who sold a car which had been “clocked” to an unsuspecting buyer has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Hemen Adalat advertised the BMW 3 series car in Auto Trader and claimed its mileage was 42,000 when in fact it had done 142,000 miles, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

The car was purchased for £7,500 by a man who travelled to Ipswich to meet Adalat and paid him £3,000 cash, said Alison Lambert, prosecuting.

Adalat asked for the balance of £4,500 to be paid using a card machine at a shop he said he co-owned.

Adalat had then taken the money out of the till in stages, said Miss Lambert.

The purchaser of the car had subsequently sold the vehicle and its true mileage was discovered when the new owner did a check. When the man who originally bought the car from Adalat tried to get in touch with him Adalat had not returned his calls and he was left £2,000 out of pocket.

Adalat had used the money he received from the sale of the car to purchase another BMW.

Adalat, 29, of Star Lane, Ipswich denied two offences of fraud by false representation and three offences of concealing, converting or transferring criminal property but was found guilty buy a jury after a four day trial in April. The offences took place between December 2011 and june 2013.

Sentence was adjourned until yesterday (Wed) when Adalat was given a three month prison sentence suspended for 18 months and ordered to do 120 hours unpaid work in the community.

Sentencing him Judge John Devaux told Adalat: “You are a deeply dishonest man.”

Paul Donegan for Adalat said his client accepted the jury’s verdicts although he didn’t understand why he was convicted.

He said Adalat was a family man and worked full time in a shop.