Man jailed for four years after being charged with multiple frauds

Simon Retallick has been sentenced to four years in prison at Teesside Crown Court today (Monday 25 March) after being charged with multiple counts of fraud and perverting the course of justice.

More than 17 offences were charged by Cleveland Police while Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council also brought 40 criminal charges against him following a Trading Standards investigation.

Retallick targeted 37 victims, mainly in 2020 in lockdown by falsely advertising the sale of vehicles on eBay.

He would advertise the vehicles, and because of lockdown, people were not able to view the vehicles in person. He would take money via bank transfer, and then spend months making excuses to victims about why their vehicle hadn’t been delivered.

Victims were scammed out of over £100K in total and were left with no vehicle.

Each report was logged by the victims with Action Fraud and the Citizens Advice Consumer Service, the reports were then passed over to Cleveland Police and Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council’s Trading Standards team respectively for investigation.

Officer in the case DC Dimelow said: “Simon Retallick is a serial fraudster who targeted and took advantage of victims across the UK. This investigation has been particularly challenging and complex due to multiple victims around the country, and it has taken almost a year to work through the high volume of evidence to ensure Retallick was charged.

“Evidence included working through text messages, phone calls, eBay messages, bank statements and anything else which involved communication between the victims and Retallick. This amounted to 20 case files of evidence.

DI Kirtley stated “The officer investigating this case has done a fantastic job and dedicated a huge amount of time to ensure Retallick would be brought to justice.

“Trading Standards also brought 40 criminal charges against Retallick alongside the charges that police and the CPS brought. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our colleagues from Trading Standards for their professionalism and help throughout this investigation.

“Retallick has caused nothing but misery to many victims and his actions have had a detrimental impact on their personal relationships, businesses, and financial situations.

“He has shown zero remorse for the crimes he has committed and given no mitigation for his actions, but thankfully he has now been brought to justice and will now how have plenty of time to think about his crimes in prison.”

Mr Retallick was also served with a Criminal Behaviour Order which bans him from selling vehicles for eight years.

A spokesperson for Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council said: “Mr Retallick’s actions caused a great deal of worry and grief for many of his customers, leaving them out of pocket and without the vehicles they paid for.

“Using lockdown restrictions to his advantage, he deceived his victims for many months. Rightfully he has been punished for that by the courts.

“Mr Retallick’s dishonest way of operating his business is inexcusable and I would like to thank our Trading Standards officers and the Police for their tireless efforts to bring him to justice. I hope this sentence brings some comfort to his victims and sends a clear message that we will not tolerate fraudulent business owners in our Borough.”