A LAW student stole £5,000 in an eBay scam in a bid to clear his debts - but ruined his chances of ever becoming a solicitor.

Asif Ahmed, 34, of Richmond Terrace, Darwen, advertised a range of non-existant electrical items on the auction website in a bid to clear student debts.

But his plot was branded "crass stupidity" after he used his own name and bank details to sell the goods and was traced easily by police when angry customers complained.

Recorder Paul Lawton told Ahmed that he had avoided being sent to prison by a "hair's breadth".

He was sentenced to a six-month suspended sentence at Preston Crown Court and he must complete 300 hours unpaid community work.

Julie Taylor, defending, said Ahmed's future hopes for a career as a solicitor were over.

Miss Taylor said: "He is in the third year of a law course and he realises now that any future that he may have had in the profession is completely over.

"He was looking to clear student debts and was lured into thinking that this was an appropriate way of doing that."

Recorder Paul Lawton told Ahmed: "You showed crass stupidity because it was inevitable you would be traced.

"At 34-years-old you are a mature man but this was a very unsophisticated crime."

At court Ahmed pleaded guilty to 46 separate charges of fraud. He had built up a positive rating on eBay by genuinely selling a number of low priced items before his scam began in November last year.

Hilary Manley, prosecuting said that he then began to advertise for sale a range of electrical and computer goods that did not exist.

She said: "In total he made more than £5,510 by tricking people all over the country."

It was only when the items did not arrive as he had promised that the alarm was raised and the police began their investigation.

Ahmed, a taxi driver, is married with three young children.

Miss Taylor said: "He bitterly regrets the crime and knows that he has brought shame on his parents and his wife."