A COWBOY solar panel supplier has been jailed for conning customers out of thousands of pounds.

Mark McCracken ran Intelligent Solar from offices in Taunton and Torquay, using high pressure sales tactics to entice families into having panels fitted at their homes.

Sales staff offered returns that were never achieved and claimed to be part of a Government-approved scheme that would enable customers to sell surplus energy to electricity companies.

But he was an undischarged bankrupt whose previous solar energy firm was forced out of business by numerous customer complaints.

Intelligent Solar fobbed off complaints and left clients out of pocket when they discovered they were not entitled to the feed-in tariff for surplus power.

Many were pressured into taking out bank loans to pay for the work, even though McCracken and Intelligent Solar were not licensed to offer financial advice.

The total value of fraudulent contracts between 2015 and 2016 was more than £50,000, Exeter Crown Court heard.

One customer told they would recoup their investment in a few years later calculated they would have to live to be 107 to do so.

McCracken, 44, of Hestercombe Close, Bridgwater, admitted fraud, unfair trading, breach of bankruptcy rules and offering financial advice without authorisation.

He was jailed for 30 months and banned from running any business for five years.

Judge David Evans told him: “You obtained tens of thousands of pounds worth of business on the back of fraudulent and misleading processes.

“These were ploys to make money while all the time you were bankrupt and should not have been running Intelligent Solar."

David Sapiecha, prosecuting, said Intelligent Solar had been refused registration because of complaints about previous companies run by McCracken.

False claims were made and some customers could not access the feed-in tariffs.

Sales representatives were instructed to arrange loans in customers’ homes because they may change their mind if allowed time to reflect.

McCracken installed his mother Angelene, 75, as managing director as he was banned from running a company because he was bankrupt, but it was a sham and he remained in charge.

Paul Dentith, defending, said McCracken was left with solar panels after the failure of his previous business and needed to sell them.

He said much of the company’s work was of good quality.

McCracken now suffers from depression and a serious eye condition and has lost his marriage, business and home following this case.