CONMAN Richard Cope was brought before a Crown Court judge...to receive an apology and a cut in his sentence.

Mr Recorder Nigel Mylne QC admitted being too severe on Cope when he gave him a 30-month stretch for obtaining property by deception.

Cope, 54, had been sentenced to the prison term and ordered to pay £2,500 to a Weymouth trader he had conned.

Cope, of Castle Square, Bridport, had pleaded guilty to obtaining property by deception at Dorchester Crown Court on October 20.

But he was ordered to return to court yesterday to hear that the judge had changed his mind.

Recorder Mylne said: "I want to apologise to you because I think I gave you too long a sentence of imprisonment. I have been thinking very carefully about this. You were man enough to plead guilty and I feel I did not give you enough credit for your guilty plea.

"Therefore, I am going to reduce your sentence from two-and-a-half years to one-and-a-half years. I apologise for putting you through the anxiety you must have been through in the interim."

Cope had admitted duping the owner of Crosby Carpets in Weymouth by taking money for work he had not done.

He had claimed to be a Mr Claridge from Little Manor, Osmington, and won the trader's trust by saying he would buy up to £15,000 worth of carpets from him.

He then offered to do some work on the shop premises. He asked for £5,000 cash up front to buy materials and was given £2,050.

The next day, Cope asked for another £550, which the owner refused as he had become suspicious. He made enquiries and found out Cope was not who he said he was and contacted the police.

Cope had previously been convicted for tricking an elderly lady into having unnecessary repair work done.