Jail for fraudster pair who persuaded victims to cash in their pension funds
BUSINESSMEN who cheated cash-strapped pension holders out of £1million and blew the money on gambling, holidays and cars, were jailed yesterday.
Anthony Locke, 32, set up a website called Successful Pensions to attract people desperate to raise money on their retirement funds, the court heard.
With the help of Ray King, 54, who “sold” the scheme to people who registered their interest online, they offered applicants an up-front payment, equivalent to half of their pension pot.
The remainder was “invested” in bogus eco-friendly firms, which were described as an occupational pension plan. Instead the funds were filtered through offshore accounts and others held by Locke’s mother Jacqueline Humphreys and former partner Annabella Willcocks. Money went on fast cars, like an Aston Martin Vantage, Porsche 911 and Mercedes B180, gambling and luxury holidays.
Jurors heard 16 applicants were conned out of £999,266. They included people unable to work through injury, a failing business owner, a former wife made homeless after divorce and parents looking to renovate their home. Prosecutor Stephen Hopper told Southwark Crown Court: “These people were often in considerable financial difficulty. Cashing in their pension scheme was their only option and it was how Mr Locke and Mr King were able to persuade them in the first place, and many did sign up to things that were not true.”
Locke, of Christchurch, Dorest, was jailed yesterday for five years for fraud by false representation and money laundering and disqualified from being a company director for seven years. King, of Poole, Dorset, was jailed for three years for fraud by false representation and disqualified from being a company director for five years.
Judge David Tomlinson told them: “The individuals believed they would be left with half or more of a pension fund to support them to some extent in retirement and, in fact, each has been left with nothing.”