Builder and his father sentenced over covid loan fraud

A Bristol builder and his father have been sentenced after grossly inflating turnover to obtain two covid loans, totalling £100,000.

James Leslie, from Dundry, Bristol, applied for a £50,000 Bounce Back Loan in May 2020, on behalf of his construction company, Dartmouth Homes Ltd.

The Bounce Back loan scheme, introduced during the pandemic, helped SMEs to borrow between £2,000 and £50,000, at a low interest rate, guaranteed by the Government.

The 45-year-old claimed the company’s 2019 turnover was £250,000 in the loan application, adding the company had suffered during the pandemic.

David Snasdell, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: “James Leslie made numerous deliberate false representations to secure money he was not entitled to during a national emergency,”

Leslie’s father, William, 74, also applied for two £50,000 covid loans for company Logan Housing Ltd the same month.

Leslie transferred the cash from his loan to Logan Housing and Northwick Homes Ltd, where he was also director.

The builder made a second fraudulent loan application the following month, claiming £300,000 turnover for his Bampton Developments Ltd business, which was not trading at the time.

Analysis of the company’s bank revealed the extent of Leslie’s overstated figures, showing Bampton Developments made little more than £18,000 for 2019.

In interviews, Leslie admitted using the funds from this loan for the benefit of Northwick Homes. 

Leslie was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for 18 months, when he appeared at Bristol Crown Court on Tuesday (23 July). 

His father, meanwhile, admitted he knowingly made the first application and that he was acting dishonestly in making the second. 

William Leslie pleaded guilty to one count of fraud in June after making the second application and was sentenced at the same hearing to 16 months in prison, suspended for 12 months. 

Snasdell added: “The Insolvency Service will not hesitate to prosecute these cases, and both the father and son now have criminal convictions as a consequence of their actions.”

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