Police issue appeal after fraudster goes on run from county open jail
A CONVICT has gone on the run after absconding from an open prison in Derbyshire.
Robert David Salinger did not return after a period of release from HMP Sudbury on June 29.
The 36-year-old was jailed for four years after being convicted of fraud at Manchester Crown Court in October 2020.
The court heard he ran an “organised and sophisticated’ con trying to swindle £340,000 from various companies.
Police have now issued an appeal in a bid to find Salinger.
He is thought to have links to Blackpool, Manchester and Birkenhead.
The father of three used false identities and posed as existing customers to rent industrial plant hire equipment and buy tyres, his sentencing hearing in December 2020 was told.
He negotiated credit agreements or arranged for payments to be made at later dates, but goods were quickly ‘moved elsewhere’ after delivery, a court heard.
Judge John Potter said the fraud was “designed to acquire high-value goods by creating and maintaining false identities”.
“The goods were delivered to a delivery address then quickly moved elsewhere,” he said.
Judge Potter said Salinger, of Woodford Road, Failsworth, Oldham, was a “central figure” in the fraud. He pleaded guilty to five counts of conspiracy to commit fraud and five counts of fraud and was jailed for four years.
Judge Potter said: “It is quite clear to me that your actions had a significant effect on some of the companies targeted and some of the employees who were conned by you. Some have lasting concerns that their careers were affected and indeed, some have lost their careers.”