Kettering fraudster Ashley Hall avoids jail ‘by a whisker’

Ashley Hall won’t be given a third chance
Kate Cronin
By Kate Cronin
Published 28th Dec 2023, 07:00 BST
Ashley James Lewis Hall will have to appear before the court again in three months. File image: Northamtpon Crown CourtAshley James Lewis Hall will have to appear before the court again in three months. File image: Northamtpon Crown Court
Ashley James Lewis Hall will have to appear before the court again in three months. File image: Northamtpon Crown Court

A judge has warned a Kettering eBay fraudster that he will not give him another chance at freedom.

Ashley James Lewis Hall of Railway View, Kettering, appeared before a judge at Northampton Crown Court last week for a review of a sentence imposed on him last year.

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In December the 32-year-old was given a suspended prison term after being convicted of fraudulently selling plant machinery, a car and a cherished numberplate on eBay, as well as advertising for rental a flat he didn’t own. He was ordered to pay back £12,000.

The court heard Hall had promised to pay at a rate £2,500 per month starting in January this year. But he claimed in court he hadn’t done so becausehe had been ‘screwed over’ by his business partner so the money was no longer available.

His barrister Micaila Williams said: “He has been stripped of all the assets of that business.”

Since then he told the court he had started a new business.

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He also failed to keep up with his probation appointments and had not kept in contact with the probation service between March and July. But a probation officer appeared before the court to say that Hall had resumed engagement and they believed they could now work with him.

His Honour Judge David Herbert KC said: “Before I’d seen him in court there was only one place he was going today.

"I am disappointed that he’s in the situation he’s in. He did have the money to pay it and was willing to pay it in the early days.

"He doesn’t deserve a chance. He understood what he had to do and he’s not done it.

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"But I am going to test his compliance and if he doesn’t tick every single box between now and the next time I see him here he’ll be leaving by that door (pointing to the cell door).

"The probation officer has saved him by a whisker. My patience is worn out now. There will be no third chances. Put your back into it.”

A message on the website of the company Hall claimed to own says he is not a director and has no connection to the company.

Hall will be back in court in March for another review.