A fridge fixer who left customers with faulty equipment has been jailed for three years.

Kenneth Hornsby, 59, of Banbury, was sentenced at Northampton Crown Court on June 16 after he admitted 13 charges of obtaining money by deception and failing to attend court in accordance with his bail.

After a two-year investigation by trading standards officers, he was found to be operating a dubious repairs service from his Banbury home.

Hornsby carried out work in the Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire areas.

He was found to have repeatedly duped customers, sometimes leaving them with dangerous repairs.

Northamptonshire County Council's cabinet member for trading standards, James Ashton, said Hornsby's sentence should act as a warning to other conmen.

He said: "This sentence sends out a powerful message to anyone contemplating anything like this."

Hornsby committed the offences while trading as 21 Century Refrigeration and Counties Refrigeration during 2000 and 2001.

Victims contacted Hornsby after seeing his adverts in Yellow Pages.

He charged between £110 and £320 for jobs, but the appliances usually failed to work afterwards.

Victims were said to have found it impossible to contact Hornsby for a refund.

Hornsby was jailed for 27 months. He was also sentenced to a further nine months for failing to attend court and giving a forged doctor's note to excuse the breach of his bail conditions at a previous planned hearing in February.