Car scam driver spared prison.

A former finance worker has been given a suspended jail term for his part in an organised scam bringing stolen cars worth more than pounds 300,000 into the region from the Continent.

Jeffrey Young acted as a driver on behalf of the organisers of the racket, bringing back vehicles including prestige Mercedes and BMWs from Italy.

Young, 51, of Cookson Street, Arthur's Hill, Newcastle, had denied conspiracy to handle stolen goods between January 1999 and December 2001, claiming he believed it was a legal operation.

But he was convicted after a trial at Newcastle Crown Court and sentenced yesterday to nine months imprisonment suspended for two years.

Restaurant owner Guiseppe Giacomini, 47, of The Fold, Monkseaton, Whitley Bay, was jailed for four-and-a-half years at an earlier hearing after admitting the conspiracy charge.

His son, Carlo Giacomini, 26, of Whitley Road, Whitley Bay, was sentenced on the same day to two years and nine months after pleading guilty to the same offence.

Prosecutors said the elder Giacomini was the main man in the scam, using his contacts both in Italy and in this country to sell on the cars, while his son acted as his assistant.

At least fourteen and probably 22 nearly-new cars were involved in the scheme.

They were sold on ( supported by the use of stolen car ownership and registration documents.

Prosecutors said Young had acted as a "footsoldier" acting on behalf of the Giacominis and was actively involved in bringing 10 cars to the UK, knowing it to be a dishonest scheme.

He was also involved in securing insurance for at least one of the ringed cars, the court was told.

Unemployed Young ( who still protests his innocence ( admitted driving cars back from Italy on behalf of Guiseppe Giacomini but said he had not known that they had been stolen.

Passing sentence, Judge Michael Cartlidge told Young he had "shut his eyes to the obvious" and played an active role in the racket and a prison sentence was deserved.

But he said he was in no doubt Young, who suffers from long-term severe depression, was a vulnerable man who had acted under the influence of two more criminally sophisticated men.

Suspending the sentence, Judge Cartlidge said Young's illness meant prison would be extremely damaging to him and it was of no benefit to anyone to send him straight to jail.