Couple who stole £58m from HBOS told to repay £10m - or face 10 years in jail

Couple who stole £58m from HBOS told to repay £10m - or face 10 years in jail

The former City high-fliers once lived in Todenham House, a luxury mansion in the Cotswolds, before they were both handed lengthy jail sentences.

A couple who made £58million from a HBOS bank swindle of more than £245million have been ordered to pay back more than £10million - or face another 10 years each in jail.

Banker Lynden Scourfield, 57, forced struggling clients to use the services of his friend David Mills while authorising huge loans to high-risk customers - regardless of their ability to repay them.

Southwark Crown Court had heard how Mills, 63, charged exorbitant 'consultancy' fees and expenses while running companies into the ground.

Mills, his wife Alison, 54, Michael Bancroft, 76, and John Cartwright, 73, creamed off millions to fund the purchase of property across Europe, birthday bashes in Thailand and Barbados, trips to Ascot, and a £2million 100-foot long yacht Powdermonkey, shored up in the Mediterranean.

On Thursday, the couple were ordered to repay assets, including a yacht and homes, at Southwark Crown Court under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

When the firms went into administration, Mills seized what assets were left and transferred them to his sham companies The Sandstone Organisation and Knightingale Investments.

HBOS had to write off £245m from Scourfield's toxic loan book after the rogue banker's scam between 2003-2007.

The bank, once the UK's biggest mortgage lender, almost went bust in the 2008 credit crunch and taxpayers were left to foot the £20.5billion bill.

Scourfield, who worked in the bank's Reading branch, admitted conspiracy to corrupt, money laundering and four counts of fraudulent trading last August and was jailed for 11 years in February 2017.

Scourfield's kickbacks included holidays around the world in the best hotels and romps with high-class call girls.

He even kept a stash of Viagra in a rented flat to fuel his orgies with porn star Suzie Best.

David was jailed for 15 years, Alison was jailed for three years, Bancroft was jailed for 10 years, Cartwright for three-and-a-half years and HBOS banker Mark Dobson, 57, received four and a half years.

Sentencing the crooks last year Judge Martin Beddoe had said Scourfield 'sold his soul' to Mills in exchange for 'sex, luxury trips, bling and swag'.

The couple made £58m from the fraud and returned to court for a hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

David was ordered to repay £5.6m while Alison must pay £4.8m after a probe into their realisable assets.

They once lived in Todenham House, a fabulous mansion in the Cotswolds.

Judge Beddoe ordered the couple to repay the amounts within three months or face another ten years each in jail.

Mr Mills, who appeared in court via prison video link from prison, sat calmly with his palms clasped together during the proceedings.

His wife appeared in court wearing a brown dress with polka dots.

Their identified assets included Todenham House, worth £2.5m, £100,000 wine collection, property portfolio worth more than £1.2m, foreign properties worth £1m, share portfolio worth £1m, pensions worth £1.3m and company assets worth £1.5m.

During the trial jurors were shown photos of Mills and Scourfield on holidays in Bangkok, Moscow and Barbados.

While in Barbados for Mills' wife's 40th birthday Scourfield bought a Cartier watch worth more than £3,200 on Mills' AmEx account.

A 2010 report stated of the £250m written off by the impaired assets division at HBOS £245million related to customers under Scourfield's management.

Scourfield pressured struggling businesses use Mills' advisory company QCS to obtain further bank lending.

Massive sums of money were advanced to the businesses by Scourfield when is was obvious that the cash could never be repaid.

Bristol-based engineering company Bradman Lake Group footed the bill for some of Scourfield's trips and ended up going bust with debts to HBOS of £36million.

Another company, Clode, was left in debt of 'in excess of £20.5million' and tie manufacturer Theros was left 'almost £21million' in debt to the bank.

Porn magazine publishers Remnant, who supplied some of the girls for the banker's parties, were left with debts of 'in excess of £16million'.

Scourfield, known as 'Uncle Lyn' was described by Brian O'Neill, QC, prosecuting as a "golden goose".

"Lynden Scourfield was the goose who was laying golden eggs," said Mr O'Neill.

"David Mills just had to keep feeding him and feed him... he did," he said.

More than £28m passed through the personal accounts of Mr and Mrs Mills, the court heard.

The loans scandal came to light after a six year investigation dubbed Operation Hornet, the biggest in Thames Valley Police's history.

Following his confiscation hearing last year Scourfield was said to have made £681,494.68 from the scam and given three months to pay back just £131,332.92 or face another 18 months behind bars in default

Mills, formerly of Todenham, Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, was convicted of one count of conspiracy to corrupt, four counts of fraudulent trading and one count of conspiracy to conceal criminal property.

Alison Mills, of Todenham, Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, was cleared of one count of fraudulent trading but found guilty of one count of conspiracy to conceal criminal property.

Dobson, of Barnsbury, north London, was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to corrupt and one of conspiracy to conceal criminal property.

Bancroft, of Ilmington, Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire, was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to corrupt, three counts of fraudulent trading and one count of conspiracy to conceal criminal property.

Cartwright, of Knott Lane, Hyde, Cheshire, was cleared of one count of fraudulent trading but found guilty of one count of conspiracy to conceal criminal property.

Deputy Chief Constable Jason Hogg of Thames Valley Police, said: "I am incredibly pleased that these criminals continue to be confronted with measures to seize the gains from their substantial fraudulent activities to help guarantee they are appropriately punished.

"This group defrauded struggling businesses and gained significant sums of money, and lived a luxury lifestyle as a result of their fraudulent ways. It is vitally important that we use methods like this to ensure they are completely stripped of any remaining gains."

Helen Hughes of the CPS, said: 'David Mills is the epitome of a fraudster, taking advantage of people when they were in desperate need of help and bleeding them dry. They trusted him and he made matters even worse, using the last of their hard-earned money to buy extravagant trips abroad and luxury yachts.

"This group defrauded struggling businesses and gained significant sums of money, and lived a luxury lifestyle as a result of their fraudulent ways. It is vitally important that we use methods like this to ensure they are completely stripped of any remaining gains."

Helen Hughes of the CPS, said: 'David Mills is the epitome of a fraudster, taking advantage of people when they were in desperate need of help and bleeding them dry. They trusted him and he made matters even worse, using the last of their hard-earned money to buy extravagant trips abroad and luxury yachts.

"David and Alison Mills profited from the downfall of others but now they must face the consequence of their greed and pay back more than £10million."