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[Fedster + 1,307]

Victim funded case after police did not pursue.

Gerard Lawless. Photo credit: South Beds News Agency

Date - 18th October 2018
By - South Beds News Agency

2 Comments

 

A fraudster called Lawless was jailed for seven-and-a-half years on Wednesday following a private prosecution brought because the police did not have the resources to investigate.

Company accountant Gerard Lawless, now 60, was convicted by a jury who heard he stole £1.8 million to fund expensive holidays, shopping trips to Selfridges and tickets for Ireland rugby internationals.

The case was brought against him by Vincent Tickel, the boss of a public relations company called Hunter that is based in Harpenden, Hertfordshire.

After the case, Mr Tickel said: "I am disappointed that having reported this crime to the police they did absolutely nothing and left me with the task of having to fund a private prosecution in order to get justice."

Lawless took the money over 11 years - mainly from Mr Tickel's two public relations companies Hunter and Carbon.

A jury at St Albans crown court found Lawless of Galway, Ireland, guilty of theft and fraud by abuse of position.

His wife Angela Lawless, 58, of the same address, was cleared of being concerned in the acquisition, retention, use of control of criminal property. The couple previously lived in Clarence Road, Harpenden, Herts.

Prosecutor Gideon Cammerman QC told the jury: "On November 20, 1997 Mr Lawless began an accounts role within a small group of companies in Hertfordshire predominately owned by Vincent Tickel.”

He said he stole the money for 2003 to 2014 in lots of different ways, all of which supported a luxurious lifestyle.

Mr Cammerman said: "It was spent on holidays, shopping at Selfridges and John Lewis, on family outings to international rugby games - Mr Lawless being a supporter of Ireland."

He said Mr Tickel and others at the companies trusted Mr Lawless, with Mr Tickel telling his wife that if he died she should go to Mr Lawless because he knew about everything. "That trust was betrayed in a sustained way," said the prosecutor.

Mr Cammerman added: "In a decade, £230,000 was spent on holidays - that is £25,000 a year. Many thousands of pounds was spent on wine and champagne.

"So blatant did the fraud become that champagne for his son's wedding, to which the directors and employers were invited, was bought with a company credit card.

"He (Mr Lawless) would pay for a big meal on a company credit card and other people would give him money for their share back. He was giving his bank details for people to send him their share."

Adrian Waterman QC said that some of the expenditure had been for business, not Lawless' personal use, taking the amount of the fraud down to around £1.5 million. Judge Alan Greenwood accepted this.

The judge banned Lawless from being a company director for 10 years and made a restraint order on him and his wife preventing them disposing of assets.

After the case, Vince Tickel said: "The jury came to the true and rightful verdict that Gary [Gerard] Lawless, a valued and trusted part of my senior management team who became a close personal family friend, had stolen a huge sum of money in excess of £1.8 million over 11 years."

Tamlyn Edmonds of EMM Law, who brought the private prosecution, said: "It is shocking to think that Gerard Lawless almost got away with stealing £1.5 million because the police did not investigate this case.

"This lack of investigation, which is a common occurrence, is why so much financial fraud goes completely unpunished. It is only because the victim pursued a private prosecution that justice has now been served."

The judge made the order that cost of the prosecution will be borne by the state.

Hertfordshire Constabulary is implementing "an immediate review to examine the circumstances surrounding the decisions made in November 2016 concerning this case", a spokesman said.

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[HazRat 762]

A sad indictment on a force that probably doesn’t have the capacity to deal with complex fraud investigations. I would also suggest that this is probably a national issue. Overall we’re short of detectives and how many do we have that would have the relevant experience to forensically examine accounts? At the moment everything appears to be safe guarding. Forensic accountants are worth their weight in gold.

My Mrs is doing a degree in finance and I glaze over once she starts talking about balance sheets and T accounts.

[Indiana Jones + 1,082]

I'd suggest there was a lack of financial oversight on the part of Mr Tickel.

[Zulu 22 + 4,575]

It is indeed a sad reflexion on the ineptitude and failing of the Police. There can be no oversight or blame on a victim for meeting a con man. He got 7.5 years which is a pathetic sentence which means £200,000 fraud earns 1 year, or after remission £360,000 per year. If someone offered me a job as a prisoner for £300,000 per year I think I would take it.

[Burnsy2023 2,895]

3 hours ago, Indiana Jones said:

I'd suggest there was a lack of financial oversight on the part of Mr Tickel.

Lets not start the victim blaming.

[ParochialYokal 1,119]

In all fairness, he may have been better off investigating and prosecuting the matter himself. Whilst I am generally not very critical of county forces, I don’t think that investigating fraud is ever the strong point for many of them.

I personally think that fraud would be better off investigated regionally by a specialist team.

[Radman + 2,163]

In all fairness, he may have been better off investigating and prosecuting the matter himself. Whilst I am generally not very critical of county forces, I don’t think that investigating fraud is ever the strong point for many of them.

I personally think that fraud would be better off investigated regionally by a specialist team.

I think people generally expect far too much from smaller county forces. Fraud is a massive issue and the investigations I have been involved with have dragged on for years and years, a case at the minute involving our CID is approaching two years old now with multiple suspects and hundreds of thousands of pounds involved.

It is a big ask for even well funded, well staffed forces to undertake such an investigation let alone a force that is cash strapped with a finite number of detectives to get the job done.

[Hyphen + 693]

In a lot of forces many high value complex frauds now stay with response cops. Hence why with many there is no investigation and it rumbles on for a while until it can be closed down.

It goes for many complex investigations, it’s a mess.

[ParochialYokal 1,119]

I think that fraud is slightly different from other offences, as it can be more complex (whatever the value).

 

Many such cases involve someone whom is a trained accountant and has done something elaborate to cook the books. It makes no sense using an officer with a generic skill set to investigate such matters.

 

I remember doing a S.18 search involving a fraud case involving a finance manager from a local business. I was a bit surprised that it was being handled by a probationer. Likewise, you could argue it was surprising that two Special Constables accompanied her to search premises for ‘evidence of fraud’. Not too sure what we were looking for other than banks statements etc. She had kitted the place out like a play pen for teenage boys and there was a rather surprised one sitting there when we arrived (it was clear what this ‘cougar’ was spending her money on).

 

Three years later I get a call asking me to attend Crown Court. I was surprised that the case hadn’t been concluded. And then it was finally discontinued the week before it was due to start.

 

I wonder how much that cost the tax payer to drag the matter out for that long? And I wonder whether it would have been cheaper if it had been investigated by a forensic accountant employed by the police, as opposed to a very nice and well meaning but inexperienced probationary police officer?