A SERIAL conman, who once posed as a doctor at the Royal Preston Hospital, has been jailed for nearly three years.

Paul Bints was found guilty last week of stealing a £55,000 Aston Martin car from a Glasgow salesroom in July this year by posing as a wealthy businessman.

Appearing before Glasgow Sheriff Court for sentence yesterday Bints, of no fixed abode, was given two years and nine months in jail.

Bints, who has more than 100 convictions -- many of them for deception -- was told his record was "dreadful" and that the public needed to be protected from his deceptions.

Bints has posed as a barrister involved in the Lockerbie bombing trial, an aristocrat, a millionaire and a ballet dancer.

In 1993, using the name Paul Bint, the 35-year-old tried to con his way into Blackburn Royal Infirmary as a bogus doctor.

He later tricked his way into the renal unit of the Royal Preston Hospital and sent a patient for treatment.

Hospitals in Lancashire were put on alert on his release from prison two years ago.

Sentencing Bints, following a four-day trial at Glasgow Sheriff Court last week, Sheriff Kenneth Maciver told him that custody was the only appropriate punishment for his crimes.

He said: "Your record and the circumstances of the current crime suggest that you are clearly and fundamentally dishonest to the extent that lying and stealing appear to be deeply embedded in the integral appearance of your lifestyle."

He added: "This was a blatant and engineered theft involving planning and deception to put yourself in a position to steal this car." Bints has already served ten years behind bars for deception offences.

In 1988, he was sentenced to four years for tricking a salesman out of an £83,000 Ferrari while posing as the Earl of Arundel.

In October 1994 he was jailed for five years for a series of theft and deception offences at East Lancashire hospitals.

In April this year Bints was jailed for seven months after being convicted at Edinburgh Sheriff Court of assaulting his fiancee at the time when she confronted him about his lies.

His latest deception came within days of his release from that sentence.