Stowmarket car sales manager jailed for fraud ordered to pay back £1

A Stowmarket man who defrauded his employers of tens of thousands of pounds has been ordered by a judge to hand over £1.

Patrick Burke, 52, of Combs Wood Drive, was jailed in May at Ipswich Crown Court after pleading guilty to an offence of fraud by abuse of position.

On Tuesday, Burke was brought back to the same court for a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing designed to recoup as much as possible of what he gained from his offending.

Judge Martyn Levett heard specialist financial investigators had established Burke's benefit totalled £85,000, but he had no assets.

Burke was ordered by Judge Levett to hand over a nominal £1 within the next week or face an additional seven days in prison.

Also appearing at Ipswich Crown Court on Tuesday was David Garrett, 36, of Goldfinch Drive, Attleburgh, who had admitted the same offence as Burke.

His benefit had been assessed as £350,000 and he was ordered to hand over his remaining assets, which amounted to £38,225.

In May, the court was told how Burke and Garrett had been employed by Hammonds Car Sales, in Ipswich, when they sold 67 vehicles which had been taken in for part exchange.

They then kept the proceeds instead of paying the funds into the company's bank account.

The fraud was committed over a 10-month period, between January 29 and November 11, 2016, and involved cars with a total value of £343,999.

Burke, who was general sales manager, and Garrett, who was trade sales manager, had attempted to cover their tracks by issuing false invoices.

When Burke was jailed for 45 months and Garrett for 40 months, Judge Levett had described the fraud as 'skilled and planned'.