A man from Vleuten has been jailed for conning people into paying him damages after deliberately driving into their cars.

R N, the court was told, would drive his moped in and around Utrecht, selecting mostly elderly victims and then causing “an accident”.

He would then demand money from them for repairs to his moped, “often in an intimidating way”, leaving the victims “bemused and with damage to their car,” local broadcaster RTV Utrecht quoted the judge as saying.

N admitted the fraud but blamed his private circumstances, prompting the judge to say he did “not take responsibility for his deeds”.

He was given a seven-month prison sentence, 6.5 months suspended, and a probation period of two years for eight cases of fraud, four attempts at fraud and damaging eight cars between April 2023 and February 2024.

He was also given 160 hours of community service and must seek psychiatric help.