9/5/2008

Local News

Two fined for foot-and-mouth receipts scam

TWO best friends who tried to scam more than £11,000 from the government during Surrey’s foot-and-mouth outbreak last summer have been fined £8,000 each.

Andrew West and Hammond Wire, both from Kent, created false receipts to claim money back from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) between October 23 and November 30.

On Friday, South East Surrey Magistrates’ Court heard the pair were both managers for FGS Agri, a farm and estate management company which was contracted to carry out work for Defra during the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

Matthew Capes, prosecuting, told the court the men altered and created receipts totalling £11,381, which claimed labourers who carried out the work had stayed in a Woking hotel for three months when they had in fact only stayed for three weeks.

Mr Capes said: “During police interview, West insisted he was doing it for the benefit of the company but this contradicted with Wire who said they were going to split the money between them.”

West, 28, of Wassal Lane, Cranbrook, and Wire, 30, of Hitherfield, Charing, Ashford, admitted four counts of attempting to commit a criminal offence.

Ordering them to pay a fine of £8,000 each, chief magistrate Keith Moller said: “I don’t believe this is letting you off. It is a considerable amount of money. This is a huge lesson for the future and you now have a criminal offence on your records.”

They were each also ordered to pay court costs of £87 and a victim surcharge of £15.

First printed in: Surrey Advertiser Online

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