A FRAUDSTER who befriended businessmen before conning them out of £600,000 in a car scam has been jailed.

Adam Adamou, 39, tricked York-based tax advisors James and Martin O’Toole and their associate David Breeze into handing over hundreds of thousands of pounds over 18 months.

Prosecutor Abigail White said Adamou became friends with the pair in 2007.

He persuaded the directors of Aston Court Chambers International, in King’s Staith, to invest in “list places” for the opportunity to buy Rolls- Royce Phantoms, Aston Martin DBSs, Ferraris and a Lamborghini concept car that was never put up for public sale.

In April 2008, Adamou took £12,100 from Mr O’Toole for a complete set of first-edition James Bond books that never materialised.

A fourth businessman, Adam Bernholt, also lost £75,000 to Adamou in an alleged business investment and £46,200 in a car deal.

Adamou, of Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, who admitted 20 counts of fraud, conned the four men out of £599,050, Southwark Crown Court heard. He has since been declared bankrupt.

Sentencing Adamou to three years and eight months in jail, Judge Deborah Taylor said: “These were high-value, premeditated offences of fraud and dishonesty.”