A CONMAN who admitted fraud after buying more than £20,000 of online goods for just 85p has been jailed.

Liam Twine was part of a consortium which produces software allowing hackers to alter the value of online goods.

He admitted two counts of fraud when he appeared at Colchester Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

The court heard Twine, 27, admitted buying £23,618 of items from a range of companies between April and September 2015, paying 1p for each transaction.

Twine made 85 transactions in the six month period.

Colette Harper, prosecuting, said: “There were a series of offences relating to transactions with a number of online outlets.

“Using the Tamper plug-in for Firefox, items were purchased and the value reduced to 1p.

“In some cases, the retailers sent out the items, in other cases the fraud had been discovered by the companies.

“One transaction was for £200, another for £159 and one for £302.

“He is part of a consortium who produce the software .”

On the second charge, Twine, of Willow Way, Dovercourt, admitted conning a woman out of £300 by promising to improve her credit rating.

Mrs Harper said: “In March 2014, Ruth Auta responded to an advert on Craigslist offering to improve her credit rating.

“She engaged with the defendant and a £300 payment was agreed.

“The payment was made, but the defendant did not deliver, leaving the victim out of pocket.”

Katie Armstrong, mitigating, said: “There has been a guilty plea at the earliest opportunity.

“He is very remorseful for both offences.

“He had received legal advice that this would be committed to crown court and so not to bring anything with him.

“He has not got his finances in order, he had not got his family in order.”

She added: “He suffers with both bipolar disorder and anxiety and has a six-year-old child with severe autism and sensory needs - he has to be minded at all times.”

The magistrates sentenced Twine to six months imprisonment for the first charge and four months for the second charge, with both sentences to run consecutively.