Dad spared jail over role in son’s land scam
AWEST Lancashire man was spared jail, after admitting a role in helping his son run a multi-million pound fraud.
Peter Wren was given a suspended sentence after pleading guilty to aiding and abetting his son, Timothy Wren, to participate in the running of a company, despite Wren junior having been disqualified by the Financial Standards Authority (FSA) from taking any such role.
Timothy Wren was the mastermind behind a despicable £3.6m land banking fraud, which blighted the lives of more than 300 victims.
His gang cold-called people and conned them into buying supposedly lucrative plots, in a crosscountry conspiracy from 2005 to 2012.
In reality, the land did had no development potential and even included protected green belt, which could never have been built on.
He and four other crooks enjoyed a life of luxury, while victims, including vulnerable pensioners, vicars and teachers, lost their life savings.
The ringleader, 42, of Wargrave Road, Newtonle-Willows, was jailed for eight years for conspiracy to defraud, after a trial in August, 2016.
But his wife, Danielle Wren, was cleared because there was no evidence that she knew funds going into her account were the proceeds of crime.
Liverpool Crown Court last week heard proceedings to confiscate Timothy Wren’s ill-gotten gains were launched after he was locked up.
James Rae, prosecuting, said investigators discovered a series of suspicious payments, made between September and November, 2013.
They revealed that when the authorities were closing in on the conman, he transferred around £86,000 into an account run by his wife.
When she was interviewed by police that September, officers made it clear why they were looking at funds going into the account.
Mr Rae said: “She had sufficient knowledge at the very least for her to suspect that her husband’s use of that account included the proceeds of criminal conduct.”
Danielle Wren and her father-in-law, Peter Wren, travelled to a garage in Penn, Buckinghamshire, on February 21, 2015, to buy a black Lamborghini Gallardo for £85,950.
They paid a £1,000 deposit from her bank account, before the balance was cleared by a company called Pay U Today Limited, set up in 2012, with Peter Wren as its director.
The car was delivered to the couple’s then home in Green Walk, Bowden, Cheshire, where Timothy Wren later showed it off to a car saleswoman, who delivered him a black RS6 Audio Quattro on finance.
Due to concerns raised by the FSA, he had been disqualified from managing or being the director of a company in 2009.
However, Mr Rae said Pay U Today Limited also bought two significant properties in 2014 and 2015 - the Otterburn Hall Estate, in Otterburn, Northumberland, and the Penrallt Hotel, in Aberporth, Cardigan, Wales.
Emails showed Timothy Wren was “instrumental in the negotiations” with the approval of his dad, to whom he later sent a “handover document”, before he was jailed.
Danielle Wren, 32, of Ashley Road, Hale, Altrincham, Cheshire, and Timothy Wren admitted concealing criminal property.
Peter Wren, of Briars Lane, Lathom, Ormskirk, admitted aiding and abetting his son to participate in the running of a company.
Jonathan Rees, defending Timothy Wren, argued he had already been sentenced for some of the business methods involved in this offence, which he said was a continuation of the same scam.
Thomas Quinton, defending Danielle Wren, of previous good character, said for now she was a single mum, caring for children aged two, nine and 12.
He said that a pre-sentence report found she had “expressed remorse for her behaviour and insists that she has now learned her lesson”.
Denis Barry, defending Peter Wren, said that his client intended to rid himself of the three companies he owned.
Judge Andrew Menary, QC, said that Danielle Wren “must have been at least suspicious” of her husband’s activities, while Peter Wren must have realised his business practices had been “called into question”.
He said: “Your son, I’m afraid, is a thoroughly dishonest businessman, with no scruples, who has caused misery and financial loss to a lot of people.”
The judge imposed a consecutive 15-month sentence on Timothy Wren, meaning he will spend at least an extra seven and a half months behind bars.
He said it was sad a mum-of-three should find herself in the dock, but Danielle Wren helped her husband launder “the proceeds of a very mean fraud”.
Judge Menary sentenced her to eight months in prison, suspended for a year, plus 150 hours’ unpaid work, and Peter Wren five months in jail, also suspended for a year.
The judge banned both Danielle and Peter Wren from being the director of a company for five years.
Timothy Wren’s gang of fraudsters worked for firms selling bogus investments across Merseyside, Cheshire, Warwickshire and Derbyshire.
Prosecutors said one distraught victim lost the compensation money he had received as a result of an attack which had left him blind.
A teacher who used money earmarked for her children’s university fees was blamed by her husband and they ended up getting divorced.
Another woman who lost £55,000 was too ashamed to tell friends what happened and suffered depression after the con came to light.
The brazen fraudsters carried on with the scam, despite the FSA repeatedly investigating their companies and telling them to cease trading.
John Chandler, 61, of Clockface, St Helens, was jailed for seven years; Jeanette Chandler, 60, of Clockface, St Helens for four years; Kevin Hilton, 40, of Oak Drive, Burscough for six years; and Alfred Arthur, 56, of Deepdale, Leigh, for four years.