A conman accused of leaving customers and investors £100,000 out of pocket has been ordered to spend a week in jail after failing to appear in court.
Matthew Farr was previously jailed for a solar panel scheme in which he used the deposits of Scots for gambling and luxury living. Last week we revealed Farr, 37, formerly of Glasgow, is now at the centre of new claims after setting up a car repair firm in England.
Farr, also called Matthew Scott, set up Masco Detailing Ltd, a firm involved in “maintenance and repair of motor vehicles” which customers and investors say owes them cash. Farr has now been ordered to prison for seven days for contempt of court after failing to answer questions over an unpaid debt.
It comes after a customer launched a civil action against him after he paid Farr’s firm £3450 for work on his car in August 2021. None was carried out and the money was not refunded.
Last March Farr was ordered to pay the man, Matt, a total of £4078.28. Farr did not pay up and failed to appear at Nuneaton County Court in Warwickshire about the debt. He was found in contempt of court in December and a warrant issued.
Victim Matt, 44, from Warwick, said: “I filed a claim at a small claims court but no one knew where he was to serve him with the papers. In December 2021 I passed him in a car… he realised it was me and took off so I followed him for over an hour as he tried to evade me.
“He ran out of petrol and had to go to a petrol station. That’s where I…shoved the notice in his hands. He just shrugged and put it in his pocket and he has never paid.”
Masco Detailing Ltd was formed in July 2020 with Scott (Farr) as sole director. It was based in Worcester before moving to Inkberrow, Worcestershire, then Warwick.
Farr persuaded scores of people to invest in the firm with the promise of lucrative returns but they claim he vanished after taking their cash. Farr, now of Leamington Spa, is also accused by customers of taking money upfront for jobs not done.
We spoke to one man who invested more than £75,000 in the company in 2021. Another investor said he handed over £20,000 and we also spoke to a former F1 mechanic who invested £10,000. None saw a return.
Masco Detailing’s first set of accounts are nearly a year late, yet the firm’s website and Facebook page state Masco is still open for business. Farr, who was exposed by us in 2012, set up recruitment firm Wolf International while being probed by police.
He modelled himself on Jordan Belfort, the fraudster in The Wolf Of Wall Street film. Farr was jailed for 34 months in 2015 in Edinburgh for the solar panel con.
In an email to the Sunday Mail, Farr said: “With regards to any court action, I was unaware of any civil court proceedings, as such any court decision would have been won by default rather than on the merits of the case.”
Warwickshire Police refused to comment.
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