Landlords have been duped out of thousands after a letting agent misappropriated funds from tenants by failing to transfer rent payments into landlords’ bank accounts, treating the money as his own, according to reports in The Leader.
Peter Swatton, 55, was able to carry out the fraud whilst continuing to trade as letting agent franchise Abacus Accommodation Agency, between January 2007 and January 2009, after it closed.
The reports allege that Swatton, who has been spared jail, misappropriated a total of £84,800 to try to keep the struggling letting agent business afloat in what the Mold Crown Court heard to be a case of “robbing Peter to pay Paul”.
The court accepted that Swatton, from Wrexham, had not initially set out to defraud anyone. Instead an unwillingness to let his lettings business fail - he had invested £10,000 – and, according to his barrister, stubborness and pride, motivated the fraud. He also took a second job to try to inject cash into his failing business.
Swatton admitted to the fraudulent trading and has been given a 36-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months. He has also been ordered to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work, by Judge Niclas Parry.
In December 2008, Swatton filed for bankruptcy, owing a total of £55,000 to creditors. It was the deputy official receiver who alerted the police to his scam.
According to The Leader, the judge told Swatton: “The aggravating features in this case is that you acted in breach of the trust of people who owned properties and entrusted those properties to you. You buried your head in the sand hoping, rather than expecting, an upward turn in fortune.
“You worked hard to try and salvage the situation, you have not benefited personally and you worked in other employment to make the payments you knew were due.”
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