A FORMER landlord convicted of perverting the course of justice is wanted by police.

Peter Cronin, aged 53, was originally sentenced to two years in prison suspended for two years, 300 hours unpaid work and ordered to wear an electronic tag for six months in April, after pleading guilty to perverting the course of justice.

However, the sentence was appealed by the officer in case.

Cronin, of Manchester Road East, Walkden, has since been fined an additional £1,000 and yesterday, he was sentenced to three years and 14 weeks in prison at the Court of Appeal in London.

He was sentenced in his absence and had until 6pm yesterday to surrender himself.

After failing to report to a police station, he is wanted by police and officers are actively seeking his whereabouts.

The court heard that Cronin, a former landlord, organised a scam helping people avoid prosecution for speed camera offences, by providing false information on forms passed to him by his associates.

As well as using fake details, Cronin often provided real people’s names but with different addresses, using the identities of previous tenants of properties he owned during his time as a landlord.

When the previous tenants and other victims of the scam were summonsed to court for speed camera offences and did not reply, they were then convicted in their absence.

Cronin did this on 84 different occasions from November 2009 and his crimes affected eight police force areas including Greater Manchester, Merseyside, West Yorkshire and Cambridge.

Police Constable Vaughan Sherrah-Davies, of GMP’s Road Crime Unit, said: “Yesterday’s result has ensured this criminal faces prison time and I hope it makes it clear that if you do get involved in this sort of systematic and organised scam, it will not be handled lightly by police.

“Many of those who used Cronin’s service were his criminal acquaintances, who avoided prosecution at the expense of innocent people.

“There were five different victims who received fines and points on their licenses through no fault of their own, with one victim even being disqualified from driving.

“Not only has this scam caused unnecessary stress and inconvenience for those implicated, but it completely undermines the prosecution system and has wasted time and money for a number of different agencies.

“We are now appealing for the public’s help to trace Cronin so he has time to reflect on his actions behind bars.”

Anyone with information about Cronin’s whereabouts should call police on 101 or the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.