The Isle of Wight Council’s Trading Standards team has been praised following what has been described as ‘one of biggest’ prosecutions brought by the council, following the sentencing of resin driveway fraudster Simon Regan.
Regan, director of Angel Coatings Ltd, was jailed for 3 years and disqualified as a company director for 6 years following a hearing at Southampton Crown Court on Thursday (23rd March), as first reported by Island Echo.
The 58-year-old was in the business of laying resin drives and pathways and charged residents and businesses across 3 counties many thousands of pounds for work which in many cases was not up to scratch.
On 22nd February, a jury unanimously convicted Regan, who also traded under Angel Coatings Resin Drives Ltd and National Resin Drives Ltd, of 3 counts of Fraudulent Trading, contrary to the Companies Act 2006. It followed a near 5-week trial at Southampton Crown Court.
In 2018, Simon Regan had signed a formal undertaking under the Enterprise Act 2002 to Trading Standards that the highlighted issues at the time would improve, however, the complaints considerably escalated leading to a criminal investigation being started.
During the trial, the court heard evidence from 65 witnesses from the Isle of Wight, Hampshire and Devon where Regan’s companies had committed offences. The collective fraud of these contracts was valued at around £300,000.
It was heard that there were significant sums of money being turned over through Regan’s companies which was not reflected in his company accounts submitted to Companies House or HMRC, and he had spent a substantial amount of money on his gambling habit.
Amanda Gregory, strategic manager for regulatory and community safety, has said:
“I want to thank the entire Trading Standards team but, in particular, to the investigating officers in this case.
“Through sheer hard work and determination, the evidence was gathered to present in front of a Jury. I also want to say thank you to all the witnesses in the case who attended court for facing the defendant which we are aware causes a degree of anxiety, stress and inconvenience.
“To have achieved this result also wouldn’t have been possible without the tremendous support from our Legal Services and our prosecuting barrister.”
Councillor Karen Lucioni, Cabinet member for community protection, has added:
“The investigation suffered difficulties, including COVID-19 affecting timescales, but with perseverance we got to where we are today.
“Local consumers and businesses lost many thousands of pounds on works they had paid for.
“This was a team effort to get this result and our officers have to be congratulated. The case demonstrates that where the evidence exists of these fraudulent trading practices, Trading Standards will take appropriate action to protect local consumers and the honest, reliable businesses.”
An excellent job done by all at Trading Standard IOW and all those concerned.
Oh well done trading standards ! One conman gone lots of other conmen on the IOW you fail to do anything about , What about the infamous “Connor” the dodgy used car sales boy !