Building firm boss guilty of providing false certificates for Newmarket’s Grosvenor flats
A company director has been found guilty of providing false building work completion certificates for flats in Newmarket.
After a two and a half week trial, which had originally been due to go ahead at Ipswich Crown Court, but was transferred to Colchester Magistrates’ Court, a jury returned the guilty verdicts on 16 charges faced by Wayne Murfet of Freckenham Road, Chippenham near Newmarket and his companies Lors Homes and Murfet (Burrough Green) Ltd. He had denied all the charges.
Recorder Emma Nash told the court she would sentence Murfet on October 1 and released him on bail until that date.
She ordered a pre-sentence report because she said she wanted all options for sentencing to be explored as these were very serious matters.
“I want to understand a bit more about Mr Murfet and his circumstances,” she said.
Forty-one-year-old Murfet had been accused of 14 counts of fraud and two counts of supplying articles for use in fraud.
Andrew Copeland, prosecuting, said 36 false certificates of completion for use in the conveyance of flats 146-148 at The Grosvenor development on the site of the former De Niro’s nightclub, just off Newmarket High Street, plus another for The Paddocks, in Brinkley Road, Burrough Green, had been forged by Murfet or someone acting on his behalf.
Murfet claimed he didn’t know who completed the documents and that he did not make or intend them to be used for fraud.
Mr Copeland said the forged documents had allowed Murfet to dupe flat buyers, as well as their solicitors and mortgage brokers .
The court was told fraud had come to light following an investigation by Robyn Phillips who had bought her flat in 2019. Soon afterwards she raised concerns about a water leak from an upstairs flat. She had contacted her insurer who assured her the flat had been certified as complete.
However, when she spoke to West Suffolk Council she was told by its building control department no documents had been supplied for the site.
In November 2019, a building surveyor said Miss Phillip’s flat would be deemed unsafe unless a fire door was installed.
Later the council instructed that an independent fire assessment take place which highlighted a number of risks including the chance that if a fire started it would spread.
Murfet and Murfet (Burrough Green) Ltd was also found guilty of failing to disclose to the purchaser of a plot at Brinkley Road, Burrough Green, Newmarket, that building works at the property had not been certified as complete by the building control department of East Cambridgeshire District Council.
The offences were all committed between October 2018 and August 2019.
Murfet said the building control completion certificates were not created by him but issued by a building control officer for West Suffolk Council.
The defendant said the 36 certificates appeared on his company computer and he assumes they were scanned in by one of his secretaries after they were hand delivered to his office by an unknown person.
After he found them there, he proceeded thinking they were legitimate.
When cross examined, he could not explain what the building control officer would stand to gain by doing this but still denied forging the documents.
Graham Crisp, head of Suffolk Trading Standards, said the actions of Murfet and Lors caused significant detriment to the purchasers of the flats.
“They had no idea the certificates they received were not genuine and that their flats had not been signed off, and consequently the purchases would not have gone through when they did,” he said.
“Murfet’s fraudulent actions have caused substantial loss to the purchasers and created a significant risk to people’s safety and property.”
Cllr Steve Wiles, Suffolk County Council’s cabinet member for public protection, said the prosecution was the result of a long and complex investigation by Suffolk Trading Standards.
He commended the team for its hard work in bringing him to justice.
Cllr Wiles said: “We have strong building regulations in this country and that is because they are there to protect the public.
“Wayne Murfet chose to ignore those regulations and will be paying a heavy price for doing so. I welcome this judgement from the court.”
Cllr Jim Thorndyke, cabinet member for planning at West Suffolk Council, said building control provided a safeguard to residents.
“It tells buyers that the council’s service has carried out checks and provided an assurance that the new homes are safe for people to live in and meet modern standards and regulations,” he said.
Bypassing these and providing fake completion certificates, meant Murfet ‘effectively conned’ people into spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on flats that were not complete, Cllr Thorndyke said.
Cllr Thorndyke added: “These are serious offences. We have supported Suffolk Trading Standards in bringing forward this prosecution and we welcome today’s outcome.”
