A BUSINESSMAN is facing jail for conning schools, health centres and a Hull charity for the homeless out of more than £500,000 in an elaborate fraud.
Jonathan Wilbourne, 45, duped school bosses, the Government's education department and health chiefs into allowing him to supply photocopiers in a scam lasting eight years.
Wilbourne conned more than 60 schools and businesses around the country into buying photocopiers they believed were new machines.
Instead, he supplied them second-hand machines, charging them £20,000 for equipment that was only worth, in some instances, £1,000.
He also claimed he was buying out their photocopier lease with a previous firm but failed to pay the outstanding amount, leaving them thousands of pounds in debt to lease companies.
Schools caught up in the major fraud included Chiltern Primary School, Hull Homeless and Rootless Project, Watton C of E school in Driffield and the Department for Education and Skills,
Judge David Tremberg has warned Wilbourne he will face a substantial prison sentence after deferring sentence.
He said: "It seems to me a substantial prison sentence will follow for this and you must prepare yourself for this likelihood. In the meantime, you are remanded into custody."
Hull Crown Court heard almost 60 businesses and schools across the country were snared into the scam orchestrated by Wilbourne.
Wilbourne, who ran his company Cyan Systems from his home in South Cave, was only caught by a chance audit at one school.
He would tell schools they were buying new equipment worth up to £20,000 when, in reality, the goods were only worth £1,000.
When the goods broke down, Wilbourne would then charge the organisations breakdown and repair costs.
The businesses would pay him money to pay off their former photocopier lease agents but Wilbourne did not always repay this money.
He would recycle old photocopiers and sell them on as new and would forge delivery notes.
Eight schools across Hull and the East Riding, including Wilberforce College, Watton Primary School and Cavendish Primary School, were caught up in the major scam which also affected a doctor's surgery in Cottingham.
Wilbourne admits frauds totalling £560,000 after pleading guilty to 16 counts of fraud and asking for more than 40 more frauds to be taken into consideration.
He pleaded guilty on the basis that his offending was not to fund a luxury lifestyle.
Wilbourne told the court he was homeless and penniless and asked the court to remand him into custody because he had nowhere to live.
Judge David Tremburg said: "It would appear akin to a confidence fraud."
His barrister Rodney Ferm said: "It is more akin to fraudulent trading but there are aggravating features in relation to it.
"Customers were misled and sometimes badly misled."
Mr Ferm said Wilbourne had been remanded in custody because he'd been homeless.
The lawyer claimed, alongside the major fraud, there had been "numerous honest transactions."
"It is accepted that this business began honestly," he said.
"I'm not going to seek a report he has been advised about the sentencing guildelines and they are likely to take him to prison and he knows that."
Detective Sergeant Phil Shrimpton said: "This involved primary schools and doctors surgeries. It was a long, complicated fraud."
Wilbourne will return to court next month for sentencing.
A spokesman for East Riding Council said they were unable to comment as schools controlled their own budgets.
