Jailed for £23,000 fraud
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• A former manager of Freightliners and the boss of hire company Graylease have been jailed for 15 months and six months respectively for a massive fraud involving a fuel credit card and false invoices.
At Manchester Crown Court Judge Simon Fawcus said that the two had been convicted on "overwhelming evidence".
Following a trial lasting almost three weeks, Terence Bevington of Redcar Close, Hazel Grove, Stockport and Gavin Robin Gray of Woodale Farm, Brantingham, Brough, Humberside were convicted of four counts of corruption.
Gray had paid Bevington a total of £15,710 and allowed him to use a petrol credit card in return for accepting false invoices; the pair were convicted on one count of conspiring together to defraud Freightliners of £23,754.17 through the supply of false invoices and rate confirmation notes.
Bevington was also convicted of conspiring with Geoffrey Coles, a partner of B&C Hau lage, to defraud Freightliners of £7,617.60; of dishonestly attempting to obtain a car from Pendlebury Brake Lining Co; and five counts of false accounting in connection with work done for Freightaway (Ireland).
Gray was ordered to pay £7,500 towards the prosecution's costs and Bevington, £5,000.
As a subsidiary of British Rail, Freightliners was almost in the public sector and that made this sort of fraud all the more serious, said Judge Fawcus.
Geoffrey Coles of Worcester Road, Salford had pleaded guilty earlier to one count of conspiring with Bevington to defraud Freightliners by falsely pretending that tractor units had been let on hire to Freightliners when they were in the possession of B&C Haulage.
Coles is to be sentenced at a later date.