A North East debt collector who fraudulently took cash from clients but never helped to recover any money has been sent to prison.
Robert Thomas Cree has been locked up for four years and 10 months for two counts of fraudulent trading and one count of perverting the course of justice.
Newcastle Crown Court heard that Cree, 41, of Netherwitton Way, Newcastle, ran a number of debt recovery companies - Monument Management Limited, Falcon Management Limited and Redwood Business Management Limited, trading as Rojen Recovery Services.
In November 2014, Monument Management Ltd was wound up and a criminal investigation was launched by the Insolvency Service.
Investigators found the business was cold calling organisations, offering debt recovery services following payment of a subscription fee.
Cree received substantial payments but, in most cases, Monument Management never recovered debts and no service was provided.
In the company’s liquidation he also impersonated the company’s director to deceive the Official Receiver. He was charged with fraudulent trading and perverting the course of justice in October 2018.
Investigators also discovered that after Monument Management Ltd was wound up, Cree incorporated Falcon Management Limited. The new company offered similar debt recovery services but was also wound up in April 2018.
The liquidation of Falcon Management triggered an investigation by the Insolvency Service into Cree’s conduct, and he was disqualified as a company director for 11 years from May 2019.
Following his disqualification, in June 2019, Cree pleaded guilty to fraudulent trading in relation to his conduct while director of Monument Management Limited.
Before his sentencing, investigators discovered the defendant was also acting as director of Redwood Business Management Limited, trading as Rojen Recovery Services. This was a direct breach of his 11-year disqualification order and triggered a further criminal enquiry.
Investigators soon found that Cree operated Redwood in the same way as Monument and Falcon and had fraudulently obtained more than £170,000.
Cree also used various aliases, including Robert Robinson, throughout his dealings with his victims.
On January 18 this year, he appeared at Newcastle Crown Court where he pleaded guilty to fraudulent trading in relation to Redwood Business Management Limited.
On April 30, he was sentenced to four years and 10 months in prison and disqualified from acting as a company director for 12 years for two counts of fraudulent trading and a count of perverting the course of justice relating to Monument Management Limited and Redwood Business Management Ltd.
Judge Sarah Mallett described Cree as "plainly not trustworthy or honest" and said he knew what he was doing was wrong.
After the hearing, Julie Barnes, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: "Criminality like Robert Cree’s has a huge financial impact on the victim companies involved in his scams and the business community as a whole.
"We worked hard to fast track our investigation after information about a new company came to light during this defendant’s first sentencing.
"Robert Cree refused to co-operate with investigators throughout but despite this, he has now been handed a lengthy sentence for his actions."
