Rip-off trader fled to Tenerife for 12 years
HE EVADED JUSTICE AFTER CHEATING HIS EMPLOYERS
A BURTON market trader went on the run for 12 years to Tenerife after making up false invoices to rip off his employer.
Daniel Metcalfe used Donington and Burton markets to meet potential customers on behalf of Derby firm Today’s Blinds and, once they expressed an interest, he provided quotes.
He then claimed to the firm they had been accepted – and pocketed the commission. The company started making the bespoke window coverings for non-existent customers as a result of his actions.
After that, Metcalfe, now 45, hired cars he didn’t pay for, drained the mini bar in a hotel he failed to pay the bill at, then disappeared abroad for more than a decade.
Now he is back in the country to answer for his crimes.
He was spared immediate custody after a judge handed him a suspended sentence.
Recorder Steven Gasztowicz QC said: “You provided fake documents supporting claims for commission to your employer for blinds that had been ordered by customers when no such blinds had been ordered.”
Sarah Allen, prosecuting, said the defendant worked for the firm in 2008. She said he would be approached by customers at the markets and agree to provide quotations for them.
Miss Allen said Metcalfe would then put the orders through even though the potential clients had not placed them.
She said in total the firm lost around £12,000 due to his offending.
Miss Allen said: “After this set of offences, he visited a car hire firm in Wyberton, Lincolnshire, and filled out forms for a car and leaving a cheque for £80.
“When he was due to return the car he didn’t, the cheque didn’t cash and the car was recovered in Ingoldmells, near Skegness. He then hired a car from Avis at East Midlands Airport but did not return it.
“Finally, he booked a room at a hotel, drank the contents of minibar in his room and failed to pay for it, leaving the hotel £425 out of pocket.”
Miss Allen said Metcalfe was supposed to appear at Derby Crown Court to face the charges in December 2009, but failed to turn up. She said he then handed himself in, in November.
The defendant, of Copes Way, Chaddesden, pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and obtaining services by deception. He has no previous convictions.
Miss Allen said: “This was abuse of a position of trust, he was supposed to be working for the company, securing their financial interests, which he clearly was not doing.”
Kevin Waddingham, mitigating, said his client’s “time at large does him no favours at all”.
He said: “At the time of these offences he had just lost a reasonably well-paid job and as a result he experienced serious marital difficulties.
“He moved to Tenerife before this prosecution started, remarried and now has a young son with his wife.
“He made the decision to contact the authorities in this country to see if the warrant was still in circulation.
“He came back to this country and surrendered himself.”
Recorder Gasztowicz handed him a 50-week sentence, suspended for 18 months. He must complete 200 hours unpaid work and 20 rehabilitation sessions with the probation service.