An eagle-eyed Cowling resident helped uncover an elaborate fraud involving mail order and the village shop.

The resident became suspicious after seeing two men in a car parked in his access road off Keighley Road and later discovered discarded packaging and torn-up utility bills in his wheelie bin, Skipton magistrates heard last Wednesday.

He notified the police, who discovered parcels were being sent to I and S Baines in the village on accounts set up fraudulently in the names of people who knew nothing about them. They had not been paid for.

The court heard that parcels, containing computer consoles and iPods, were sent on four separate occasions in April and May, 2010.

On each occasion, they were collected by Mohammed Israr Tariq, who presented E-on utility bills matching the name on the parcels.

The last time he went to the shop, on May 12, 2010, shop owner, Sarbjeet Baines, rang 999 and kept him talking until the police arrived.

The court heard that six different accounts had been set up online with the Shop Direct Group, owner of Empire Stores and Kays.

The people had been contacted by police and had all confirmed they knew nothing about the accounts and believed their identities had been stolen.

Prosecuting, Caroline Midgley said a security officer from Shop Direct had confirmed that accounts could be set up online without the need of a signature.

Orders were then made on the accounts of Empire Stores and Kays and parcels delivered to I and S Baines, a Collect Plus shop, which operated a drop-off point for mail order companies, but had never been paid for.

Tariq, 21, of Bradford, denied four charges of fraud in relation to presenting false utility letters at the shop, and one of tampering with a utility bill.

He told the court that he had agreed to collect the parcels for someone he had met while out with friends in Bradford.

He had either been taken to Cowling by a relative, or by taxi, and had been paid £10 by the person, whom he could not identify, each time.

Tariq, who said he needed the money, told the court that he had been assured there was “nothing dodgy” about what he was be asked to do and had not been suspicious at all – even when being given utility bills made out to different people.

“I didn’t think there was anything wrong. The shop assistant was happy with the ID and didn’t seem to think there was anything suspicious,” he said. “I said I was there on behalf of this person.”

The court heard that an investigation was launched after the packaging was handed in to police in April 2010.

After he was arrested on May 12, Tariq was interviewed by police, but offered no comment throughout.

Magistrates found Tariq, of Thornton Road, guilty of presenting false utility bills at the shop on April 14, April 20, April 22 and May 12 2010, but dismissed a charge of making a false instrument.

He was given a 12-month community order with 150 hours unpaid work. He will also have to pay compensation of £507 for the unrecovered computer equipment and costs of £500.