Conman facing jail for bomb detection scam

James McCormick's global scam operation was finally caught out.

A businessman who made millions of pounds conning governments and armed forces into buying bomb detectors, which turned out to be plastic fakes designed to find golf balls, is facing a lengthy jail sentence.

James McCormick is thought to have made around £37 million from sales of the false detectors to Iraq alone.

Yet the Advanced Selection Equipment devices had no scientific basis and were based on a £13 American novelty golf ball finder.

The detectors were marketed to the military, police forces and governments around the world using glossy brochures and the internet.

The detectors were sold to duped investors in a briefcase.

McCormick sold the items for £27,000 each, also fooling buyers in Kenya, Hong Kong, Egypt, Thailand, Iraq, Niger and Georgia.

McCormick, 56, was found guilty at the Old Bailey today of three counts of fraud, as ITV News' Correspondent Emily Morgan reports: