Fraud case fire chief was urged to resign

AFORMER chief fire officer accused of fraudulently selling himself a brigade vehicle at a knock-down price was told to resign to avoid any “political and media heat”, a court heard.

Stewart Edgar, 53, is alleged to have abused his position to sell a Land Rover Defender belonging to his service to a company he was connected to for £500.

A court heard he acted as “auctioneer and bidder” when he sold the vehicle to a Scottish firm called Emergency One for £7,500 below the highest bid.

The ex-head of Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service told a colleague he had always wanted a red Land Rover for his daughter’s wedding, jurors were told.

Edgar has gone on trial at Birmingham Crown Court and denies fraud by abuse of position between April and May 2018.

The third day of his trial was told yesterday how Edgar, pictured, initially refused to resign despite being told he had “cocked up” by a former chief fire officer.

Desmond Pritchard, an adviser to the Fire Leaders Association, said he told Edgar: “Why the hell did you do that? That doesn’t look particularly good for a chief fire officer.”

Mr Pritchard told the court he called Edgar on June 29, 2018 at the request of Peter Bungard, the chief executive of Gloucestershire County Council.

Describing Edgar’s account of a visit to the Emergency One’s factory, Mr Pritchard said: “He noticed a Land Rover in the factory premises.

“He inquired at that time about the vehicle and what Emergency One’s intention was to do with that vehicle.

“Emergency One’s response was along the lines of we are not sure.

“He said ‘if you want I will make you an offer for it’ and he made an offer for the Land Rover.

“Emergency One accepted it and therefore Edgar acquired the Land Rover from Emergency One in a personal transaction with that company.

“That is how Edgar acquired the vehicle.”

Robin Shellard, prosecuting, asked: “As a result of that occurrence did you say anything to him?”

Mr Pritchard replied: “I said ‘that doesn’t look particularly good for a chief fire officer’. That was my own reflection.

“We often use what we could call the Daily Mail test. How would this look on the front cover of the Daily Mail?

“It might be legally perfectly legitimate but when you are a chief fire officer you have standards you have to abide by because you are giving leadership to the whole organisation.

“But I did say to Stewart words like ‘I think you’ve cocked up here’ but it is not a sackable offence. It is more of a misdemeanour.”

He told the jury that he advised Edgar to resign because he had done 30 years’ service.

He added: “I said to Stewart ‘you can quite legitimately retire. Go in on Monday and hand in your resignation’.

“I saw that as the most beneficial outlook for him and his family.

“Mr Edgar was initially reluctant to take my advice because he said he had done nothing wrong and why should he retire when he was enjoying his time in the service.

“But I said ‘it doesn’t reflect well and there will be political heat and media heat’.”

Edgar, of Carnoustie, in Angus, Scotland, denies the charge and the trial continues.