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Five sentenced over £200k Melton Mowbray council fraud

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Melton Borough Council believed the email was a genuine request

Five men who defrauded a local council of more than £200,000 through an email scam have been sentenced.

Melton Borough Council received an email it believed to be genuine making a "plausible" request to change bank details for a supplier in August 2013.

The following month the real company contacted the council over unpaid invoices, and the scam was uncovered.

A police spokesman said the investigation was "lengthy and complex".

The five men sentenced at Leicester Crown Court on Friday for fraud offences were:

  • Stephen Best, 44, of Govanhill Street, Glasgow, who pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing and was sentenced to 16 months, suspended for 20 months, and 80 hours unpaid work
  • Robert Brown, 61, of Boyd Street, Glasgow, who pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing and was sentenced to 27 months in prison
  • Garry Easton, 47, of Henderland Road, Glasgow, who was found guilty after a trial and was sentenced to two years, suspended for two years, and 120 hours unpaid work
  • Robert Jackson, 32, of Skaterigg Drive, Glasgow, who pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing and was sentenced to 16 months, suspended for 20 months, and 80 hours unpaid work
  • Kevin Martin, 44, of Richardson Road, Birkenhead, Merseyside, who pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing and was sentenced to 16 months, suspended for 20 months.

Det Con Andy Cree, from Leicestershire Police's economic crime unit, said the force worked with officers in Police Scotland and conducted inquiries in Ireland to trace the missing money.

"The five defendants believed they were untouchable and by using various bank accounts to move the money, they thought they were covering their tracks.

"It was a substantial amount of money for the local authority to lose."

A spokesman for Melton Borough Council said it "followed our procedures" and carried out an audit, retraining and fraud awareness exercises with staff following the incident.

Council leader Joe Orson said the authority "remains out of pocket" and is seeking to recover further funds through the Proceeds of Crime Act.