Hilton case comes to Old Bailey
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JOHN VICTOR SKINNER, 50, of Plymouth Drive, Sevenoaks, Kent, was given a nine-month suspended sentence at the Old Bailey on Monday after pleading guilty to conspiring to falsify the account of Ralph Hilton Transport Services in 1971.
Ralph Hilton, 51, of Cricket Ground Road, Chislehurst, pleaded not guilty and his trial which began on Tuesday is expected to go on for a month.
Mr Anthony McCowan, QC, prosecuting, said Hilton founded the company of which he became chairman, and Skinner was its company secretary when it became a public company in 1970 with a profit forecast of £550,000 for the ensuing year. But when it became clear the forecast would not be reached Skinner and another director joined in preparing false invoices for £68,000 to meet part of the shortfall.
Nobody had made any money out of the scheme, which was designed purely to maintain the public image of the company and there had been no major effect on the investing public.
Judge Brian Gibbons said Skinner, whose nine-month sentence was suspended for two years, had acted dishonestly but fortunately no one seemed to have lost money.