A DISGRACED former Stow-on-the-Wold undertaker who escaped being jailed for fleecing people out of money paid to him for funeral plans and stealing charity collections cash is finally behind bars.

Andrew Baker’s latest act of dishonesty was reported to the police after his victim was alerted by newspaper reports of his previous crooked exploits while running the funeral parlour.

The 54-year-old was jailed after a judge at Warwick Crown Court heard that his theft from a man who had paid him to collect a Jeep from France had been committed while he was subject to a suspended sentence for the funeral plan scam.

Baker, of Elm Close, Pebworth, was jailed for one month after he had pleaded guilty to the theft of the £450 he had been paid to collect the vehicle.

But Judge Andrew Lockhart QC also imposed nine months of the 21-month suspended sentence he had been given at Worcester Crown Court in September 2014 – making a total of 10 months.

Prosecutor Jason Pegg said that in February 2016 Geoff Taylor-Robinson bought a Jeep from a seller in France, and needed to find someone to go over there to bring it back for him.

Someone he knew recommended Baker, having used him to carry out a similar task without any problem.

So Mr Taylor-Robinson got in touch, and a fee of £600 was agreed between them – with an initial amount of £450 being paid into Baker’s account to cover his expenses.

But once he had parted with his money, there was no progress towards his Jeep being collected from France.

He tried to contact Baker several times and when he did get hold of him he made various excuses including illness and his own vehicle having broken down.

“It culminated in the defendant suggesting he get someone else to do it, and that he would refund the £450," Mr Pegg said. "That is what Mr Taylor-Robinson did, and he gave the defendant his bank details for him to refund the money. But that was not done.”

Mr Taylor-Robinson had concerns about what had happened, so Googled Baker - and found he was a convicted fraudster, with the offences for which he was sentenced at Worcester Crown Court having been reported in various newspapers.

He went to the police, and when he was arrested Baker accepted being paid the £450 but claimed his truck had broken down, and that he had intended to repay the money but his phone broke, so he could not access Mr Taylor-Robinson’s details.

Mr Pegg said Baker had been handed the suspended sentence for offences of theft, fraud and retaining wrongful credit after offering unauthorised funeral plans while running an undertakers.

Baker, who traded as Cotswold Funeral Services in Stow-on-the-Wold and Honeybourne Funeral Services in Honeybourne at the time, had fleeced eight families out of around £15,000 and stole donations of about £180 left at funerals for the Air Ambulance and Police Benevolent Fund.

Aadhithya Anbahan, defending, said Baker had admitted the offence when he was interviewed, expressing remorse and asking the police for details so he could repay Mr Taylor-Robinson.

But, asked by the judge whether he had repaid it, she said he had not ‘because he didn’t think it was proper to contact Mr Taylor-Robinson directly.’

Miss Anbahan said Baker had intended to collect the Jeep, as he had a number of other vehicles without any problem, but his truck had broken down and he had used the money to settle bills.

“Then, rather than rectifying the situation, he buried his head in the sand.”

Pointing out that there were no breaches of the suspended sentence for 18 months, and he had complied with the requirements of the order, she asked the judge not to activate the sentence.

But jailing Baker, Judge Lockhart told him: “I do not find it would be unjust to impose the suspended sentence. If I did not do so, such orders would become toothless.”