Former FD jailed for £630,000 fraud
The former finance director of Oldham-based catering supplies firm Reynard’s was sentenced for three years after admitting false accounting charges amounting to £627,587.
According to a Greater Manchester Police statement, 53-year-old Douglas Williams admitted false accounting to the value of £627,587.01 at Minshull Street Crown Court. He and was sentenced to prison for three years. He was disqualified from being a company director.
His daughter, Laura Yardley, who also worked for the company, admitted admitted two counts of possessing criminal property to the value £25,000 and was given an 18-month suspended sentence and ordered to undertake 250 hours unpaid work.
Son David Williams admitted 14 counts of possessing criminal property and using criminal property to the value of £63,082.37 and was sentenced to 12 months in prison.
As financial director for Reynard’s Douglas Williams controlled the business finances, but had been stealing from the company since 2001.
During 2006, company owner Alan Reynard injected cash into the business to tide over its cash flow, but there was no improvement in the situation. A closer look at the company accounts brought to light a series of false entries and unauthorised payments Williams had made to himself. In one instance, he pretended the company had purchased forklift trucks when he had used the money to buy a car and caravan .
The police collected evidence of 141 fraudulent transactions, ranging from £100 to his biggest transaction of £24,208.19.
Buying expensive items for himself, he gave both children deposits for their homes, cars and paid cash into their accounts.
Detective Inspector Paul Hatton commented, “The level of deception in this case is quite astonishing. Williams held a trusted position and he used that to systematically steal a huge amount of cash over many years. His actions very nearly ruined a family business and could have resulted in many job losses.”
Thanks to David Winch for bringing this case to our attention. For more detailed discussion of the issues raised by this case, join his Money laundering and crime discussion group.
Sadly, some features are typical
It is worth noting that the crimes continued undiscovered for years and the comments of Mr Reynard make sadly typical reading.
In a victim impact statement, Mr Reynard, said:
"I trusted Douglas 100 per cent and I treated him as one of the family. To this day I do not know when Douglas Williams began stealing money from the company...he almost destroyed my business, which may have caused 95 people to lose their jobs. Douglas was regarded by myself as a loyal member of staff who I trusted implicitly. I feel totally betrayed and hurt by what he has done and I cannot understand the reasons. Since the theft has been discovered it has caused me a great deal of anxiety and stress. I have lost a considerable amount of money that I may never get back."
Confiscation proceedings are underway to recover monies from Mr Williams and his family. But actually the stress and emotional backwash can be as difficult to cope with for the victim as the loss of money.
David
www.accountingevidence.com