A MECHANIC admitted a string of theft and fraud charges involving motor vehicles.

Chatteris resident Kerry Nurse pleaded guilty to 11 counts, which included fraudulently claiming to carry out work on cars, stealing vehicles and taking cash.

The 48-year-old, of Pound Road, is now due to be sentenced at a later date by a Judge at Cambridge Crown Court.

However engine supplier Dennis Ford has been found not guilty after facing, jointly with Nurse, one of the charges.

Ford breathed a sigh of relief when he was found not guilty of stealing a car.

A jury of nine men and three women took more than six hours to acquit the 56-year-old of theft of a BMW X5 between July 1 2008 and May 8 2009.

Co-defendant Nurse had already pleaded guilty to the same charge along with 18 other counts including fraud and thefts of cash and motor vehicles.

The Cambs Times was subject to a reporting restriction during the trial as jurors were left to decide on Ford’s matter alone without knowledge of Nurse’s string of offences.

Cambridge Crown Court heard how an owner wrecked his engine when he filled his diesel BMW with petrol.

A replacement engine was fitted by Nurse at Anglia Engine Services to the tune of �5,100 but it was beset by mechanical problems afterwards.

A father and son team took the car back to Nurse but later felt they had been “fobbed off” and demanded the return of the vehicle.

Prosecutors said Nurse gave them Mr Ford’s telephone number, saying he was in possession of the car.

Ford, of Westfield Road, Manea, told them he would hand it over if the owner could provide proof the car was his, barrister Michael Magee said during the opening of the case.

However the owners later reported the vehicle as stolen. It was later discovered at an address of Nurse’s in a village near King’s Lynn.

Mr Magee went on to describe a police interview on June 3 2009 where Mr Ford is quoted as saying Nurse had refused to pay him for supply of an engine for the BMW.

He took the car to extract payment from Nurse, the prosecution had said.

As the not guilty verdict was delivered on Friday (September 3), Ford smiled and said: “Spot on.”

Nurse, who now faces sentencing, has admitted:

Stealing a Renault Scenic between August 9 2007 and 16 September 2008

Making a false representation that he had supplied and fitted a working, reconditioned engine for a Mitsubishi GTO between September 17 2007 and November 3 2007

Stealing a Daewoo Tacuma between March 1 2008 and May 20 2009

Stealing a Volvo 940 between April 17 2008 and March 13 2009

Making a false representation that he had supplied and fitted a fully working, reconditioned engine for a Volkswagen Camper Van between May 1 2008 and July 3 2008

Stealing a BMW X5 between June 1 2008 and May 8 2009

Making a false representation that he had supplied a fully working reconditioned gearbox for a Daewoo Tacuma between January 1 2009 and January 11 2009

Making a false representation that he had supplied and fitted a fully working, reconditioned engine for a Peugeot 306 between January 23 2009 and March 8 2009

Stealing a Fiat Coupe between February 1 2009 and July 21 2009

Dishonestly receiving stolen goods, namely a Renault Traffic, between April 30 2009 and May 20 2009

Making a false representation that he had supplied a reconditioned engine for a Nissan Navara between July 1 2009 and July 31 2009.