8:49 am, November 3, 2025
A luxury car dealer has admitted to 16 counts of fraud in a long-running campaign of deception which lasted five years.
Andrew Mearns ran the Knaresborough-based Gmund Cars for more than a decade, specialising in modifying and selling classic models.
Car Dealer reported two years ago that he had been charged with multiple counts of fraud as well as three of theft.
Mearns, of Colwyn Place, Llandudno, initially denied all charges against him and the case had been set to go to trial at Sheffield Crown Court.
However, just days before proceedings were set to go underway, the 57-year-old changed his plea, and admitted to the the fraud charges.
While no plea was given in relation to the theft incidents, Mearns will now return to court to be sentenced next February, when a custodial sentence is likely to be dished out.
The court heard that the offences relate to business activity between 2015 and 2020, which saw the car dealer scam more than £1m out of customers.
The dealer failed to pay 16 separate victims after selling their vehicles, mostly on a sale-or-return basis.
Among his victims was Matt Saphier, who took his Porsche 911, worth more than £80,000, to Gmund in May 2017. A year later, a DVLA notice showed that his car’s ownership had changed, yet he never received the proceeds.
Another to fall foul of the scam was Anthony Place, who gave his Porsche 924 Carrera GT to Gmund in August 2018.
By March 2019 the ownership had changed but once again the customer revived no funds. Place later staged protest action in a bid to draw attention to the con.
The theft charges included stealing a £130,000 Porsche 356 in 2019 that belonged to Adrian Pyrah, a £160,000 Porsche Turbo in 2018 that belonged to John Hebson, and a £65,000 Porsche 911 Carrera in 2018, the owner of which wasn’t named.
Mearns owned Gmund Cars from its incorporation in 2006 to its dissolution in 2020 – the same year that he was also declared bankrupt
His wife, Samantha Mearns, a former Conservative councillor for Knaresborough Scriven Park, was company secretary of Gmund until December 2018.
The business, which was based at the Nidd Valley Business Park, Knaresborough, was a classic Porsche specialist.
Mearns will be sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court on February 27.
Main image: Sheffield Crown Court © Dave Higgens/PA Archive/PA Images
