Phillip Shortman admitted conning eBay customers

Appearing at Newport Crown Court on Friday, Phillip Shortman, 18, from Cwmbran, has already admitted to four counts of deception.

The court heard how he had falsely sold tickets for Six Nations rugby games and a mobile phone.

Earlier this year, he was sent to a detention centre for a �45,000 scam.

The hearing was told that after being caught conning eBay customers out of at least �45,000 - and while awaiting sentence - Shortman was able to sign up with the site again, and had an account with its secure payment service, Paypal.

One eBay customer paid him �7,000 for two debentures because he was desperate to see the Grand Slam decider between Wales and Ireland.

Nicholas Price was contacted by Shortman on 25 March after he noticed he was using the internet auction website to try to get tickets for the game.

Mr Price bought a debenture seat and tickets for �7,000 after Shortman pretended to be the nephew of ex-Welsh rugby international prop Graham Price in an attempt to give himself credibility.

David Wooler, prosecuting, said: "When nothing arrived in the post, Mr Price contacted the Welsh Rugby Union who said that no debenture existed and could therefore not be sold."

Another victim, Sheila Foster, paid �380 into Shortman's bank account for match tickets for her grandson which never arrived.

Lawrence Jones, defending, said Shortman had been making "obvious efforts" to rehabilitate himself during a 12 month detention and training order imposed at Cardiff Crown court in May for conning other eBay users out of �45,000.

Recorder David Aubrey QC, adjourned sentencing and granted Shortman, a married father-of-four, bail on the condition that he does not use the internet.

"I want you to understand by adjourning for a report and granting you bail that there isn't anything other than a custodial sentence in my mind," he said.

"These were serious and deliberate offences of fraud which you have committed before on the secure site of eBay and you should expect a custodial sentence."

When he was dealt for those original offences amounting to a �45,000, it was revealed that Shortman spent the cash living the good life - hiring limousines, going on holidays and buying designer clothes.