A PROFESSIONAL confidence trickster bought goods worth more than £12,000 by passing dud cheques at shops in Alcester, Wootton Wawen and Studley, a judge has heard.

But despite conman Mark Bainbridge being on bail for similar offences at the time, for which he has since served a prison sentence, he has been granted bail.

Bainbridge, 35, of Tidbury Green Golf Club in Solihull, pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to a total of 19 charges of fraud.

The court heard that in April and May last year he used cheques from a closed account in the name of Midwest Mortgage Management to buy goods worth a total of £12,176.

The first offence took place on April when he used a dud cheque to pay for £607 worth of Dermalogia toiletries from the Attic beauty salon in Alcester.

The same day he also struck at the Jacob Anthony hair salon in Studley, where he bought two pairs of Peacock GHD hair straighteners costing £238.

Three days later he passed a cheque at Huro Jewellery in Wootton Wawen, to obtain a £525 gold chain.

Bainbridge then moved on to Staffordshire, Worcestershire, Shropshire, Cheshire, Witshire, and the Midlands passing worthless cheques for more than £5,000.

Asking for the case to be adjourned for a pre-sentence report, Nick Devine, defending, said the offences pre-dated the prison sentence Bainbridge received in October last year.

Judge Alan Parker observed: “They were committed while on bail for those earlier offences. He’s a professional confidence trickster as well as a fraudster. It is apparent that while he was on bail awaiting trial at Worcester, he criss-crossed the country committing these offences.”

The judge said he was going to remand Bainbridge, who had also served a prison sentence imposed at Wolverhampton Crown Court in December 2009, in custody.

Judge Parker then agreed to grant Bainbridge bail with conditions of residence at his home address with an 8pm to 6am electronically-tagged curfew, after hearing that Bainbridge was in employment and planned to repay the stolen money.

He said Bainbridge had come ‘perilously close’ to being remanded in custody and warned: “I think he will have to go to custody for these offences.”