AN internet marketing consultant from Teignmouth has denied swindling customers out of more than £500,000.

Gavin Dalglish pleaded not guilty to seven counts of fraud, false accounting, or money laundering when he appeared at Exeter Crown Court.

The allegations relate to payments he received between December 2012 and August 2017 while running a business in Torquay.

Some of the alleged frauds involve sending invoices which appeared to be from media companies including Archant and SearchforLocal.

Dalglish, aged 38, of Brunswick Terrace, Teignmouth, will face a jury trial at Exeter Crown Court in March 2022.

He pleaded not guilty to obtaining £528,433.15 from chartered surveyor Robert Gascoigne-Pees between 2012 and 2016 and concealing the proceeds.

He also denied false accounting in 2016 by sending out invoices for £13,724 which appeared to be from Archant but which carried his own bank details and a similar charge relating to SearchforLocal and £720.

He pleaded not guilty to fraud by obtaining £16,679 between 2016 and 2017 by claiming to work for Infoserve and to obtaining £630 in 2017 by saying he was working for Unicell and could arrange priority listing on the internet.

Recorder Mr Timothy Kenefick adjourned his case for trial at Exeter next year and released Dalglish on bail.