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A fraudster who helped a one-time drugs boss by lying to police over an illegal car purchase made more than £130,000 from crime, a court ruled.

Christopher Robinson, 31, was jailed for nine months in January last year after he falsely claimed he had bought an Audi Q7 for £7,500.

In fact, the SUV was bought with a carrier bag of cash by 40-year-old Christopher Rogers, who had served a 10-year jail term for drug dealing.

Rogers was banned from buying cars without telling police or having more than £1,000 cash under a serious crime prevention order (SCPO).

He bought the Audi in a Yorkshire showroom without telling police, and was caught driving it on Harrowgate Lane, Stockton on July 22, 2016.

Rogers and Robinson put their heads together to try to fool police, Teesside Crown Court heard at an earlier hearing.

Rogers claimed Robinson paid for the vehicle - intended as Rogers’ girlfriend’s “dream car” - and Robinson backed up his account.

It emerged the two men had exchanged voice messages on WhatsApp, discussing how to cook up a statement to exonerate Rogers.

In one voice message, Rogers boasted how he could "stand up in front of a judge... and lie to 12 people and pull the wool over their eyes".

'Make it sound like they're trying to stitch you up'

Unfortunately for him, a jury ended up hearing of his bragging and convicted him of failing to comply with the SCPO.

Rogers told Robinson in the messages: “Keep it simple. Tell them what they need to hear.

“Make it a bit more detailed. Make it sound like they’re trying to stitch you up.

“Don’t do anything ‘til I tell you.”

Rogers and Robinson were both convicted of perverting the course of justice, which they had denied.

Robinson committed separate frauds in February and March 2016.

'A foolish thing to do'

The prosecution said Robinson remortgaged his house to obtain almost £20,000 using fraudulent payslips and bank statements - a loan which was since repaid - and took out another £10,000 loan using a false identity.

Robinson admitted two counts of fraud and two of transferring criminal property.

Sentencing Robinson in January last year, Judge Peter Armstrong told him: “The perverting (the course of) justice was committed purely to assist Mr Rogers.

“I don’t think there was anything in it for you other than maintaining your friendship.

“That was a foolish thing to do. He was a serious criminal with substantial previous convictions for serious drug offending.

“Getting involved with someone like that is always going to be fraught.

Ordered to pay £68,000

“You fell foul of that by assisting him by giving a false statement to the police about him."

Robinson's case came back into court on Friday under the Proceeds of Crime Act, legislation designed to strip criminals of ill-gotten gains.

Lawyers agreed his benefit from criminal activity was £133,367.

Robinson, of Main Street, Berwick, was ordered to pay the amount he had available - £68,005 - under a confiscation order.

Out of that sum, £10,539 will be paid as compensation for his crimes.

In 2011 Christopher Rogers was jailed for 10 years and given the SCPO for being the “managing director” of a drugs network.

Ringleader had high-performance cars

The ringleader used a workforce to deal drugs while he acquired high-performance cars with no legitimate income, the court then heard.

In 2013 the courts ruled Rogers made more than £275,000 from crime .

Rogers was freed on licence in January 2016, only to breach the SCPO within months.

He was not allowed to have more than £1,000 cash, but twice made £1,500 cash payments to Wynyard Golf Club towards his wedding.

He was only allowed one phone at a time, but had four more devices.

In December 2017 three-time drugs trafficker Rogers, then of Sawley Grove, Hartburn , Stockton , was jailed for 15 months.

'We don't want Mr Rogers to go back to his old ways'

He had been recalled to serve more of his original 10-year prison term.

He received a "Draconian" new five-year SCPO banning him from using apps like social media platform Snapchat and allowing him to have only one phone, SIM card and computer, cash under £1,000 and storage devices under 8Gb.

Judge Peter Armstrong said the order needed to be brought up to date with current technology, stopping Rogers from leaving no trace in his communications.

“The whole point is to stop serious crime. We don’t want Mr Rogers to go back to his old ways of drug trafficking,” he added.