Former council worker and builder plead guilty to defrauding authority in home renovation scam

A FORMER council worker and a builder have been given suspended jail terms after admitting defrauding the local authority out of thousands of pounds of grant money.

Brian Drake, who was responsible for the Empty Homes Grant scheme during his time at North East Lincolnshire Council, and builder and property manager Darren Major went on trial earlier this month charged with conspiracy to defraud.

The prosecution alleged that Major, 41, of Brereton Avenue, Cleethorpes, had claimed funding of £170,000 to renovate empty homes under the scheme, and that at least £50,000 of the work had not been carried out.

It was claimed that the payments were signed off by Drake, 43, of Beverley, as part of an "agreement to rip off local landlords".

But more than two weeks into their trial at Grimsby Crown Court, the jury was sent home after the charge against the pair was dropped.

Instead they pleaded guilty to nine counts of fraud by false representation – Drake to five of them and Major to six – between July 13, 2007 and April 30, 2008.

Michael Smith, prosecuting, said the amounts to which the pair had claimed for or signed off work which had not been done was £28,165 for Drake and £22,394 for Major.

However, these figures were disputed by Major's barrister Gordon Stables, who claimed there were several instances where work deemed not to have been done had actually been carried out.

He added that in some cases the value of the work carried out exceeded the grant received from the council.

Judge David Tremberg accepted the prosecution's figures were "open to question" but said the harm the pair had caused could not be quantified merely by the monetary value of the work which was not done.

He told them: "That does not take into account the stress, hurt, inconvenience, vexation that you caused to the landlords."

The judge gave both men credit for their guilty pleas, accepted that the properties in question were habitable despite their defects, and that five to seven years had elapsed since the offences.

He said "time has not been kind" to either man, with both suffering ill health and marital breakdown.

Judge Tremberg sentenced both men to one year in prison, suspended for 18 months and imposed upon them a 28-day curfew from 8pm to 6am.

He told them: "The purpose of the curfew is to bring home to you how close you have come to getting locked up."

The court heard how "time has not been kind" to Darren Major and Brian Drake since they defrauded the council out of thousands of pounds of grant money between 2007 and 2008.

Major's barrister Gordon Stables said his client had "fallen very, very low from where he was when he was doing well and was successful."

He told the court Major had divorced and now lived in a house by himself, except for when his two children, aged 14 and 10, come to stay with him.

He had a second property, which was about to be repossessed, and that a "significant debt will be coming his way".

Major had been advised by his doctor not to work because of a mystery illness, which was causing him to suffer blackouts.

"He is scared by it. He doesn't know how much longer he might live. He is unable to work. He can't get any insurance to work as a builder. He is not really sure what the future holds for him."

Mr Stables said that because of the success of his business, Major was being "pressured" to take on more work, could no longer work alone and had to trust the other directors to sign off work.

Drake's barrister Andrew Petterson said his client denied benefiting from the frauds.

He said Drake had separated from his wife since being charged with the offences, and that the case had a "seriously detrimental affect on his health".

Drake had worked since being summarily dismissed by North East Lincolnshire Council in 2008, but was not currently in employment. He was currently claiming incapacity benefit because of difficulties with his shoulder.