Haulage firm's scam left British Heart Foundation £23k out of pocket
THE British Heart Foundation was left more than £23,000 out of pocket after it paid out false invoices submitted by sacked haulage contractors.
The error was not spotted by the charity and large sums were paid to a transport company long after its contract had been terminated, a court heard.
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In ‘financial straits’: Simon George admitted a charge of acquiring criminal property.
Simon George, 28, of Daubney Street, Cleethorpes, admitted a charge of acquiring criminal property – the property being £23,100 in cash that had been stolen from the charity – between December 30, 2010 and September 28, 2011.
Jeremy Evans, prosecuting, told Grimsby Crown Court that George set up a self-employed haulage business, called M and S Deliveries, with Martyn Drewitt in October 2009.
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They transported goods between BHF shops and customers, and operated over large areas of the north, including Liverpool, Leeds, Hull and Lincoln.
They billed the charity for services carried out but, after complaints about their work, their employment was terminated.
However, invoices continued to be sent to the BHF’s accounts department and these were paid. A blank invoice book had not been returned when the employment ceased.
The amounts on these invoices, described in court as “false” because no work had actually been done, were paid into the M and S Deliveries business account in January, February, March and April, 2011.
“The error was simply not spotted,” said Mr Evans.
He told the court that the Crown Prosecution Service had taken the decision not to prosecute Mr Drewitt, 36, who is from the Grimsby area, even though he was “equally responsible for pulling money out of the account”.
Mr Evans admitted that this decision was “difficult to understand”.
George claimed he withdrew individual sums of £1,500, £2,900, £10,700 and two lots of £4,000, making a total of £23,100, after he was given a bank card and personal identification number by Mr Drewitt.
George claimed he acted under the direction of Mr Drewitt and, although he was suspicious, did not press the matter further.
He claimed he returned the card to Mr Drewitt and that he personally received only £3,000 of the withdrawn cash.
Mr Evans told the court that George’s guilty plea was on this basis and that it had been accepted by the prosecution at an earlier hearing.
Craig Lowe, mitigating, said George claimed he “assisted” Mr Drewitt five times over a period of about three months by withdrawing the money.
After his work with the company ceased, George was unemployed and in “financial straits” and was having to spend money travelling to see his son in Sheffield.
The money was spent on general living expenses and not a lavish lifestyle, said Mr Lowe.
Recorder Paul Miller told George: “It caused a substantial loss to what is a charitable institution and one in which you had been an employee.
“There’s a breach of trust here. Strangely, Mr Drewitt hasn’t faced the criminal justice system.”
George was given a nine-month suspended prison sentence and 160 hours’ unpaid work.
No compensation was ordered because of George’s financial position.
“The British Heart Foundation will have its civil remedies if it’s thought worthwhile,” said Recorder Miller.
After the hearing, a BHF spokesman said the charity would now consider what its next step would be in the matter.
But he added that the lost money would have been enough to cover the cost of 20 life-saving defibrillators and the associated training.
Comments
by JohnnyWells
Wednesday, January 09 2013, 6:49PM
“I'm more amazed that there are obviously members of the public that seem to know quite a bit more than the authorities that have supposedly investigated this, which seems to paint a picture that indicates that is less than favourable, yet effectively nothing is going to be done about it.
Makes you wonder whether the authorities are actually doing their jobs, or whether they didn't actually bother to investigate anything in the first place.
On another note... Bringing children in as a defence - how low? I bet anyone associated with him is _really_ proud... :S”
by Elevensies
Wednesday, January 09 2013, 4:42PM
“Huh. That's funny, Ted, because I know a fair bit about this whole thing, too, and I know for a fact that George knew exactly where the money came from and was drawing it out himself. Painting him as the victim is laughable at best. He wasn't some little lap dog who just did what he was told and nodded his head, yes, sir, thank you sir, I'll do whatever you like, sir. He knew what he was getting into and he reaped the benefits and then bragged about it, too. Anyone who knows George knows he's not the type of guy to roll over, take risks for someone else and become someone else's patsy.
P.S. Drewitt didn't disappear over night. I don't know where you're getting your info from, but it's not a reliable source.”
by Elevensies
Wednesday, January 09 2013, 4:40PM
“Huh. That's funny, Ted, because I know a fair bit about this whole thing, too, and I know for a fact that George knew exactly where the money came from and was drawing it out himself. Painting him as the victim is laughable at best. He wasn't some little lap dog who just did what he was told and nodded his head, yes, sir, thank you sir, I'll do whatever you like, sir. He knew what he was getting into and he reaped the benefits and then bragged about it, too. Anyone who knows George knows he's not the type of guy to roll over, take risks for someone else and become someone else's patsy.
P.S. Drewitt didn't disappear over night. I don't know where you're getting your info from, but it's not a reliable source.”
by JohnnyWells
Tuesday, January 08 2013, 9:56PM
“Anyone who believes that someone can work alongside someone in what is seemingly a partnership (M & S deliveries? What, as in MARTYN and SIMON? Or is this too coincidental? I doubt it) and doesn't think they know exactly what is going on, or at the very least questions why even after a contract has been cancelled to be being asked to keep taking out money from what is obviously a joint account, is either very naive, or very stupid.
And if anyone believes either of these sheisters in the future they want their heads looking at. Stealing from a charity that is there to save lives? Disgusting.
Just remember that whenever you see someone you know having a heart attack eh?”
by williewonky
Tuesday, January 08 2013, 12:10PM
“Scamming a charity? Low.
Mismanaged money at the charity? Poor. The accounting should be so much tighter than that.”
by Sammi777
Tuesday, January 08 2013, 11:18AM
“Wishing someone a heart attack and possible die?! Well you clearly have an education and clearly no better, plus I don't see where it's days George was guilty of this? Charged and guilty are 2 very different things but I guess only someone with an education could understand this! Charged with possession of £3000 is not being found guilty of scamming a charity!!”
by davendogs
Tuesday, January 08 2013, 11:15AM
“Ted222, With the way things started off it did come across George was some sort of senior partner. Reading further it does point to that being Drewitt. A case of the driver/dogsbody taking the flak. Drewitt is the real villain here.”
by Ted222
Tuesday, January 08 2013, 10:01AM
“Our justice system is awful! Seriously I've know about this case and story for a long time now and in detail, Drewitt was the person who made all the paper work set everything up and picketed £20k then did a runner from the area!! George was found innocent of everything but making £3k znd was proved in court he had no idea where the money came from, this paints George to be the perputrator and thief when it was Drewitt ! Even the judges comment that he can't understand why Drewitt did not get prosecuted because they couldn't find him! He left over night about a year ago! I feel for George today your not a bad person and the real people involved know you had nothing to do with this money!!”