Businessman jailed for ‘out-of-control’ European cash fraud (From The Northern Echo)

Thomas Farrier jailed for fraud

9:05am Saturday 17th July 2010 in News By Neil Hunter

A BUSINESSMAN was yesterday locked up for a fraud that raked in hundreds of thousands of pounds of European grants for his two companies.

Thomas Farrier was jailed for two-and-a-half years by a judge who told him: “It has to send out the message that this sort of behaviour simply cannot be tolerated.”

The former probation officer, who worked at Deerbolt Young Offenders’ Institution, Barnard Castle, was a director of Development and Research Initiatives Ltd and Meteor Enterprises Ltd at the time of the offences between 2003 and 2005.

Teesside Crown Court heard that he produced fake paperwork when he applied for money from the European Social Fund and European Regional Development Fund.

Farrier, 63, set up the companies to provide initiatives and “holistic” training courses across the North-East which were designed to help disadvantaged people find work.

In its formative years, the rapidly- growing business was legitimate and the balance sheet in 2003 showed an accumulated surplus of £500,000, Judge Peter Armstrong was told. But once Farrier was able to apply for the European grants – on the basis that he would match-fund any award – the fraud started, and quickly spiraled out of control.

When a random audit of the companies’ accounts was carried out in 2005, investigators discovered discrepancies and found fake invoices and time sheets on a computer.

Adam Kane, mitigating, said Farrier was out of his depth, described the bookkeeping system as “abject”, and said: “He had a cavalier attitude to accounting disciplines.”

Mr Kane said: “These convictions represent a substantial fall for a father and grandfather of good character, somebody who has worked in the public sector for almost all of his working life. We submit that the events that form the subject matter of this indictment describe a man at sea with the financial responsibilities that management of these enterprises brought with them.”

Farrier and four members of his family were among eight people arrested after a long-running investigation by specialist detectives from Durham Police’s economic crime unit.

After Farrier pleaded guilty to two charges of fraudulent trading last month, charges were dropped against his 58-year-old wife, Mary, their two daughters, and son-inlaw.

He admitted making false claims about the costs of resources and staffing, and false representations about available match-funding, as well as transferring assets.

Judge Armstrong told Farrier, of Wood View, Cornsay Colliery, County Durham, that he accepted he got into trouble because of his “lack of business expertise”.

The judge added: “The explanation is that when things started to go wrong, he turned to fraudulent trading in an attempt to hang onto the business and the money for the benefit of his family.

“I take the view that the defendant certainly started off with good intentions and that these companies were bona fide and, indeed, were operating up to 2003 legitimately.”