Six people have been handed jail sentences for their involvement in a criminal conspiracy that included bribery, money laundering and fraud centred on the Cranbrook development in East Devon.
Three construction bosses admitted to bribing then-employees of energy company E.ON for contracts on a major Devon housing development to the tune of around £2m.
Two former employees of E.ON were found to have accepted bribes in the form of cash, false invoices, references and home improvements, among other bribes, in exchange for work relating to Cranbrook.
The bribes started in 2011 and continued through until the end of 2015 when E.ON discovered and reported the illegal activity. There was no wrongdoing on the part of the energy company itself.
In 2010 when Cranbrook was being developed with new-build houses and E.ON was awarded with a contract to provide district heating for the project. Mark Baker was appointed as E.ON’s head of projects and subsequently head of build for the project, with Matthew Heyward employed as a quantity surveyor, responsible for signing off works.
Part of Baker’s role was deciding which companies should be given construction contracts at Cranbrook, and later at other locations around the UK. Heyward played a key role in authorising the payment of contractor’s invoices, particularly at Cranbrook.
Baker accepted bribes from individuals behind the companies Priddy Engineering Limited and RK Civil Engineering, with Heyward also receiving illegal payments.
Priddy Engineering Limited was controlled by Andrew Blunsdon who paid bribes to both Mark Baker and Heyward.
RK Civil Engineering Ltd (RKC) was one of a group of companies controlled by Richard King. King’s partner at RKC was Timothy Patterson and bank accounts linked to the two paid a combined total of more than £1.5m to Baker and Heyward.
The bribes arrived in the form of cash, money paid in to bank accounts, the use of prestige cars, free hotel rooms, free building work and false references.
Mark Baker, 56, of Goole in Yorkshire, his wife Angela Baker, 53, also of Goole, Matthew Heyward, 51, of Kingsteignton, Devon, Timothy Patterson, 56, of Derby, Richard King, 51 of Husbands Bosworth in South Leicestershire and Andrew Blunsdon, 57 of Winscombe in Somerset, all appeared at Winchester Crown Court on Wednesday 30th April and Thursday 1st May for sentencing after pleading guilty to various offences.
Mark Baker pleaded guilty to being bribed, four counts of fraud by false representation, being concerned in a money laundering arrangement and fraud by abuse of position. He was jailed for 46 months and disqualified from being a company director for seven years.
Angela Baker, his wife, pleaded guilty to two fraud by false representation counts and being concerned in a money laundering arrangement. She was sentenced to 13 months in prison, suspended for two years and made subject of a three months 8pm to 6am curfew.
Patterson admitted two fraud by false representation charges, two charges of bribing another person and one of acquiring criminal property. He was jailed for four years and disqualified from being a company director for seven years.
King pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation and two bribing another person charges. He was jailed for 29 months.
Heyward entered guilty pleas to bribery and being concerned in a money laundering arrangement. He was jailed for 30 months and disqualified from being a company director for seven years.
Blunsdon admitted two counts of bribery. He was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years and must complete 150 hours of unpaid work.
Detective Inspector Dan Parkinson from the Devon & Cornwall Police Complex Fraud Team, said: “These individuals believed corrupt practice was widespread in the construction industry and the method by which business was done. Corruption costs business and society, providing benefit for just a corrupt few. Ultimately, we all pay the price. These corrupt practices are a parasitic blight on society.
“It is through E.ON’s initial identification of concerns and reporting this corrupt practice to Devon and Cornwall Police that enabled these convictions to be obtained.
“Bribery is a criminal offence and it is illegal for both employer and employee to offer, promise, give a bribe or receive or accept a bribe.
“This was a complex and time-consuming investigation but we are happy to have worked alongside E.ON and secured convictions against six defendants who believed rules did not apply to them and they could do whatever they wanted in order to reach their desired goal.
“These practices were often referred to as favours. Favours they are not, they are simply corrupt criminal practices.”
An E.ON UK spokesperson said: “Our internal processes enabled us to identify this case and take decisive action. Reflecting our zero-tolerance approach to bribery, we reported the matter to the police and have fully supported their investigation."
The Offences
Priddy Engineering Ltd, the Bakers and Matthew Heyward
In February 2011, the Bakers were provided a false employer’s reference which was given to an estate agent containing fabricated information about Angela Baker’s income and employment, allowing them to rent an expensive house in Lincolnshire.
During 2011 and 2012, Blunsdon’s Priddy had an ongoing contract with E.ON at Cranbrook and over this time period paid Heyward around £40,000 in bribes.
By the summer of 2012 the Bakers had moved to Devon, and Blunsdon further bribed Mark Baker by arranging and paying for an air conditioning unit to be installed in his wife’s florist shop.
Blunsdon then submitted an invoice to E.ON as part of his company’s ongoing contract with the company. The invoice was signed off by Heyward.
RK Civil Engineering Ltd and Mark Baker
RKC was a company based in Leicestershire who had an ongoing lucrative contract with E.ON as a preferred contractor. However, RKC’s King and Patterson also had a corrupt relationship with Baker and Heyward.
From early 2012 to late 2015, RKC paid bribes to Mark Baker totalling around £175,000.
Needing to cover up the bribes in their accounts, Mark Baker submitted a number of false invoices through his company Baker Projects Ltd to RKC often marked as ‘wages’ even though Mark Baker did not work for RKC.
Mark Baker also received bribes from RKC in the form of false references of employment to obtaining rental properties and mortgages, free building work and improvements to one of his houses, an air conditioning unit at the florist and a Range Rover.
RK Civil Engineering Ltd and Matthew Heyward
At the same time, RKC also bribed Heyward, but on an even larger scale than Mark Baker.
Over this time period Heyward accepted a total of £1.4million, once again covered up by false invoices submitted to RKC by two companies associated with Heyward. Later in this period King and Patterson switched to paying Heyward in cash and also bought him fancy hotel rooms and supplied him with an Audi car.
Acquiring criminal property
Heyward had what was described as a raging gambling habit, a habit he shared with Patterson. Heyward ‘kicked back’ part of the money received from RKC to Patterson who then spent it.
A total of more than £500,000 was kicked back to Patterson.
The Bakers and their properties
Between 2011 and 2014 Mark and Angela Baker moved house four times, with each of the moves tainted by fraud.
In 2012 the Bakers moved from Lincolnshire to Devon to be closer to the site in Cranbrook. To rent this property a second fraud was required.
In their rental application it was falsely declared that Angela Baker worked for RKC on an annual salary of £60,000. Patterson enabled this fraud after being contacted by Mark Baker by creating a reference and fake wage slips.
In 2013 the Bakers moved out of their first Devon property and started the process of buying a house with a mortgage. The plan was to find a house, do it up and sell it on for profit, but the couple was unwilling to pay for the house or subsequent improvements.
RKC paid the deposit and with the help of King and Patterson obtained the mortgage by fraud. RKC then went on to pay for improvements at the home.
The property was in Okehampton and Angela Baker told the bank the deposit was a gift from her father.
The majority of the deposit came from RKC as a disguised bribe to Mark Baker. Further money was received in smaller amounts.
Angela Baker lied to the bank by saying she was working for RKC on a salary of £85,000 per year, with fake wage slips again created to disguise the fraud which involved both of the Bakers, King and Patterson.
RKC went on to pay for improvements to the property worth £50,000 before the home was sold at a profit by the Bakers.
After spending some of the profits on a car and holidays, the Bakers purchased a house in Yorkshire in late 2013.
To buy this property Angela Baker again claimed to the mortgage lender to be a RKC employee earning £84,000 a year. King created a wage slip to enable this.
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