A CONVICTED fraudster who got a job at department store and paid himself over £2,200 in bogus refunds was spared jail again this week.

Harunoor Ali of Montalt Road, Woodford Green, claimed back the cash for designer suits and coats that he never bought while working in the customer service department at Fenwick in London's Bond Street.

The 32-year-old had previously been spared jail in 2013 for ripping off customers of his then-employers John Lewis in order to buy things for himself and his family.

He pleaded guilty to the Fenwick fraud on the second day of his trial at Southwark Crown Court and sentenced to nine months imprisonment suspended for two years.

Judge David Tomlinson said: “This is the very last time you can use the impact that it would have on your mother for whom I'm satisfied you are a sole carer.

'You took advantage of a system that enabled you, under the guise of returning goods that you had never had in the first place, to divert the sum total of £2,227 to your benefit.”

Ali was working for John Lewis in 2013 when he used a customer's number to pay off two energy bills of £30 and £195.

He then paid for a pushchair worth £651 before settling a £231 car insurance bill using the details of John Lewis customer Roger Cornish.

Ali was ordered to repay the £1,180 and was told by Judge Louise Kamill: “Frankly I do not expect to see you again and it appears to me you have learnt your lesson.”

But between January and April 2015 he paid himself £2,227.10 in three separate refunds while working for Fenwick.

Ali's bosses launched an internal investigation when they noticed the store was giving out an unusually high number of refunds.

The first transaction paid into Ali’s account was for £773.10 for a coat, even though the original receipt was in the name of JP Woodcock.

He paid in a further two refunds for £773 and £710 before he was arrested.

Prosecuting, Joseph Abadoo said: “In interview he accepted the money had gone into his personal bank account, he accepts that he had processed the refunds.

“He said they were items he had personally purchased from Fenwick and therefore legitimate, and that he had contacted his manager and senior manager.

“His bank account didn’t appear to show the payment details but he said he had purchased the items with cash.”

The paperwork relating to the refunds was incorrectly filled in.

Ali admitted three counts of fraud at a hearing on Tuesday (August 23).

He must repay Fenwick the full amount in compensation along with £500 in prosecution costs and carry out 200 hours of unpaid work, as well as being subject to a curfew.