Men jailed for defrauding Nelson company

Jonathan Petrie

1 More Image(s) In Gallery

Three men who defrauded a Nelson fire detection company out of £138,000 of its equipment have been jailed for a total of six years.

Jonathan Petrie, 45, of Hillcrest Crescent, Heywood, was sentenced to two years; Simon Tipping, 44, of Brownedge Road, Bamber Bridge, Preston was sentenced to three years; Darren Scholes, 31, of Blandford Drive, Manchester was given one year.

In addition John Fairbairn, 58, of Holly Crescent, Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire was sentenced to 24 weeks imprisonment suspended for a year and 80 hours unpaid community work and Robert Robertson, 48, of Burnsall Close, Burnley was given 80 hours community service.

All five men appeared before Burnley Crown Court today (Thursday 24 March).

Four of the men were employees of Protec and a fifth man, Tipping, was a sub-contractor.

They all pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the company out of £138,000 of its equipment.

They were arrested after a major police investigation led by Pendle CID. The complex police investigation resulted in Protec equipment being found installed in residential and student accommodation in Leeds, Newcastle, Stockton on Tees, Middlesborough and Sheffield, where Protec had not had any contracts to install it. The equipment should have been installed in schools, hospitals, prisons and other Government projects elsewhere.

Detective Inspector Dave Groombridge said: “The losses to the company were minimised by the decisive action taken internally and due to their collaboration with police, none of Protec’s clients have been affected.

“All defendants were involved at various levels to steal, install or commission stolen Protec equipment. Both Petrie and Robertson held positions of trust at the company, which they fully abused in order to steal large amounts of stock.

“The most concerning aspect of this case is that there was sub-standard installation of second hand equipment in high fire risk student accommodation, resulting in remedial works having to be undertaken by the building owners to ensure their safety.

“I hope this sentence demonstrates that the police will do everything within their power to detect fraud and support local businesses.”