1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170 
Fernyhough sentenced
Page 20
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
IN Cheshire haulier Stanley Fernyhough was jailed for 15 months, and fined 250,000, after being found guilty at Knutsford Crown Court of stealing part loads of grain.
Four of Fernyhough's drivers who were involved in the thefts were each ordered to do 80 hours' community service, and a fifth was conditionally discharged for 12 months. The drivers were also fined a total of £3,400.
Fernyhough, of Hilly Lees Farm, Swythamley, near Macclesfield, was convicted on four counts of conspiring with individual drivers to steal grain, but was cleared of a fifth similar charge. Driver Antony Weaver, of Stoke-on-Trent, who had denied conspiring with Fernyhough to steal grain, was found guilty. The other four drivers admitted their part in the thefts.
6 6
The prosecution alleged that there had been a systematic theft of grain transported by Fernyhough's vehicles, from farms in the South of England to mills in the North-West. The vehicles were diverted via Hilly Lees Farm, where some of the grain was taken off (CM 28 September-4 October).
Sentencing Fernyhough, and ordering him to pay £5,500 in costs, Judge Robin David QC said it had been a particularly serious fraud.
Dealing with related tachograph offences, Derek Halbert, prosecuting, said that each driver had pleaded guilty to two specimen offences.
Driver Anthony Smallwood, of Stoke-on-Trent, had falsified charts on 13 occasions; Weaver on 34 occasions; driver Keith Cox, of Mow Cop, on 23 occasions; driver Philip Harrison, of Stoke-on-Trent, on 32 occasions; and driver Christopher Bradshaw, of Stafford, on 18 occasions. Judge David said it was a very disturbing picture and an absolute disaster for the drivers, for whom he had a lot of sympathy. He accepted that the drivers had been acting under instructions in relation to the thefts of grain.
Conditionally discharging Smallwood over the grain theft, and fining him 2350 for the tachograph offences, Judge David said there were special reasons for leniency in his case, which would be in nobody's interests to publicise.
Weaver was fined 2800 and ordered to pay 2750 costs; Cox was fined £750; Harrison was fined 2800 with 2250 costs; Bradshaw was fined 2700 with 2250 costs.
Fernyhough and two other drivers, Stephen Hodgkinson, of Harpur Hill, Buxton, and Ronald Berresford, of Flagg, near Buxton, deny conspiring to falsifying tachograph charts. They will be tried at the end of October.