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Barry McNaughton ran a thriving business selling electrical equipment and luxury goods on the internet auction site from his home.

But all the time he claimed he was unemployed and unable to work due to depression.

He hadn't registered his money-spinning operation as a business – and racked up more than £16,700 by fraudulently claiming benefits.

Police at first thought McNaughton, who is today beginning a prison sentence for the fraud, was handling stolen goods because of all the high-value items he was dealing in.

But further investigations revealed that McNaughton had travelled to Kent visiting markets where he bought cheap goods which he sold on for a profit.

When fraud investigators and police searched the 37-year-old's home in Havant Road, Farlington, Portsmouth, in September 2005 they discovered six bottles of Champagne under his bed.

And they found two Rolex watches worth £10,000, a Tag Heure watch, a new plasma flat-screen television and a Sony computer in the property.

McNaughton had also kitted out his home with a top-of-the-range Smeg dishwasher, Smeg washing machine and Smeg fridge.

Prosecutors say he raked in more than £100,000 from internet bidders between 2003 and 2006, and all the time was claiming income support, housing benefit and council tax benefit.

At Portsmouth Crown Court, McNaughton admitted two counts of failing to notify the Department for Work and Pensions of a change of circumstance, namely that he was running a business, and one count of false accounting.
He was jailed for six months, and ordered to pay back the £16,750 of benefit he claimed fraudulently.
McNaughton and his sister-in-law, Michelle McNaughton, had already been to court for offences of computer misuse and deception in a separate hearing. Those charges related to McNaughton using his sister-in-law's eBay user name.

For those offences, Barry McNaughton was ordered to complete 80 hours community service, while Michelle McNaughton was given a conditional discharge.