Private Sector

A company's former secretary and accountant who took nearly £58,000 from her employer has been sent to prison for 18 months.

Lyndsey Beckett, aged 44, of River Lane, in Waters Upton, Telford, appeared at Shrewsbury Crown Court on Friday for sentencing after pleading guilty to fraud by abuse of position at Telford Magistrates Court in June last year.

https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/crime/2024/02/10/woman-jailed-for-18-months-after-taking-nearly-58000-from-her-employer/

A man who swindled the Royal Mail out of £70 million was sentenced to prison on Thursday (February 8).

Narinder Sandhu, 62, of Jordans, Buckinghamshire, had cheated the company for a decade, using the proceeds to fund a high life that included a mansion and multiple luxury cars.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is prosecuting former company directors Reginald Larry-Cole and Scott Martin for fraud in relation to the nationwide car leasing scheme, Buy2Let Cars, which attracted hundreds of British savers to pay in around £88 million.

https://www.am-online.com/news/dealer-news/2024/02/05/buy2let-cars-bosses-in-court-on-fraud-charges

A crooked businessman accused of paying £259,000 to a poultry factory worker in Anglesey for unauthorised deliveries of chicken has been jailed for four years and three months.

https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/local-hubs/black-country/2024/02/05/chickens-come-home-to-roost-for-businessman-jailed-over-meat-fraud/

A Leicester businessman, Nazir Abdul Rashid Daud, previously residing on Landseer Road, Leicester, has been sentenced to four years in prison and disqualified from company directorship for 15 years.

Daud, convicted in his absence at Leicester Crown Court on December 2, 2022, faced charges under the Fraud Act 2006 and the Companies Act 2006 for false representations and fraudulent trading between 2015 and 2018.

A woman who stole more than £30,000 from her employer has been spared jail because of her responsibilities as a mother.

Tracie Anne Brookes, 56, of Mill Street, Prees, was sentenced at Shrewsbury Crown Court after pleading guilty to one charge of fraud.

https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/crime/2024/02/02/woman-who-stole-30k-from-employer-spared-jail/

Mike Lynch, the former boss of software firm Autonomy, has filed a lawsuit against the UK’s fraud agency ahead of his criminal trial in the US.

Lynch filed the claim against the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) at the High Court in London today and has appointed law firm Pallas Partners to represent him, according to an update in the High Court public claims system.

A businessman, through his company, swindled residents out of £1.5m by falsely promising energy savings and home security through their products and services.

The court heard how between 2014 and 2015, Robin MacDonald conducted a widespread campaign of fraud and mis-selling through his businesses, Sunpower Renewables Ltd and Stirling Technologies Ltd, trading as Proshield Alarms.

Five people have appeared in court after being charged for their part in an alleged wine fraud, following an extensive Hertfordshire County Council’s Trading Standards investigation.

https://www.thecomet.net/news/24071181.five-appear-court-part-alleged-wine-fraud/

More than 5,000 companies were formed over the last year by Chinese nationals using addresses in Northern Ireland where the home, business owners or residents are believed to have no connection to the companies.

Companies using addresses across the north, some fictitious, are trading on sites like Amazon but are using historically lax registration rules likely as part of some type of VAT fraud and to evade potential tax liabilities, according to a leading fraud expert.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/fraud-warning-after-5000-firms-started-in-last-year-by-chinese-nationals-using-northern-ireland-addresses/ar-BB1hcepB