CompaniesJul 11 2013

Pension consultant jailed for taking £100k from trusts

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A pension investment consultant in the financial services industry for a number of years who raided two trust funds and then gambled away more than £100,000 he had siphoned out of them on bad investments has been jailed.

Christopher Spackman, 55, of Southwood Road, Tunbridge Wells, who Maidstone Crown Court was told had been pension investment consultant in the financial services industry for a number of years, pleaded guilty to two offences of forgery and two of fraud. He was sentenced to 14 months in prison.

The court had been told that an uncle of Mr Spackman’s died in September 2005 and he, and the man’s widow, were appointed joint executors of two trusts.

After the widow fell ill, Mr Spackman, to whom all the statements were sent, decided to take money from the trust funds and invest it in in an apparent effort to make additional money for the funds.

Judge Philip Statman said that the initial investment failed and Spackman then invested more trust money in a similar way to try and make up for the loss and that the “downturn in the global economy led to further losses”.

He said Mr Spackman had not told the widow what he was doing and had forged her signature on documents. The trust fund, said the judge, lost £105,750.

Mr Spackman was arrested late in 2011 and told police that he had hoped by gambling the money to repay the money he had siphoned out of the funds. He recognised he had been “foolish” and expressed deep regret, said the judge.

Judge Statman said: “The course of conduct on which you embarked reflects a trait of someone with gambling instincts, chasing losses in order to make them good.

“You didn’t start out trying to be dishonest. You didn’t seek to make a gain for yourself. But you chose to fight this case up to the doors of the court.”

Judge Statman continued: “Like many others you have suffered during the recession. You lost your job, your family home and your marriage broke down. I accept you have been an exemplary father.

“You are suffering from depression and alcohol has been a problem for you.”