Businessman stole £800,000 from hotel to pay off debts
A hotelier has been jailed after stealing hundreds of thousands of pounds from a business.
Simon Matthews-Williams, 62, was sentenced to 28-months in prison after abusing a position of trust to transfer nearly £800,000 out of the bank account of a company he had formerly held a stake in.
Matthews-Williams was a Holiday Inn franchisee whose portfolio also included a Doubletree by Hilton and Days Inn in Chester, a Marco Pierre White restaurant and guest house in Aughton and events venue West Tower near Ormskirk.
A trial at Liverpool Crown Court heard that the "experienced company director" had been a minor stakeholder in the Gateway to Wales hotel, near to the A494 in Deeside. By early 2019, Matthews-Williams "no longer had any role" in the business and "had long given up any financial interest or management in the hotel".
However, he still retained access to its banking facilities and made a series of payments of just under £200,000 into another of his company's accounts before transferring the total of £794,779 to himself and his family members "to pay bills that he was being pressed to pay".
Ben Jones, prosecuting, described how Bjorn Parkander was the primary investor in the Gateway to Wales hotel. Matthews-Williams' Sanguine Hospitality Limited (SHL) "initially managed the day-to-day activities of the hotel", but this was taken over by an unconnected company, Black and White Hospitality Limited, in 2015.
Barbara Holtaway had been employed by SHL to manage the payrolls and accounts of the hotel, and continued to do so for Black and White Hospitality. When she went on bereavement leave on February 15, 2019, Matthews-Williams was able to "misuse her access" to the hotel's bank accounts - making the first of his transfers only three days later, and continuing to do so into the following month.
The court heard that Matthews-Williams had "a feeling that he was owed up to £1.6m" by a third-party company, Downing Wealth Management (DWM), which had assisted in the management of Parkander's investments. DWM and Matthews-Williams had previously been involved in a project to develop a hotel in the capital, which had failed.
Jones described how the defendant felt "somehow entitled to take the money" from the hotel because of its association with Parkander.
Matthews-Williams had described the transfers as a "short-term, inter-company loan which he intended to pay back immediately".
Jones said: "Yes, he had the physical ability to still access the Gateway to Wales hotel's bank account after his company Sanguine stopped managing the hotel. But no he did not have the legal right to take advantage of that ability to treat the hotel's money as his own."
He continued: "We suggest the defendant had no intention of paying back anyone. He did not in fact pay anyone back and only made this suggestion when the fraud was discovered."
In a statement which was read to the court, Parkander described how he "feels very stupid, having blindly put faith" in Matthews-Williams. He added that he "felt a significant amount of betrayal".
Robert Dudley, defending, said his client had attempted to pay £200,000 of the money back but was prevented from doing so due to ongoing court proceedings.
He added: "The offences were borne out of frustration with Downing and the perception that it was undermining the financial position of Sanguine.
"This was an intention to get Downing around the table. There was no intention to steal money from Mr Parkander or the Gateway."
Judge Stuart Driver KC imprisoned Matthews-Williams on Monday (12 September), after he was found guilty of five counts of theft by a jury. He was also banned from acting as a company director for seven years and told to pay a victim surcharge.
Matthews-Williams could now be ordered to repay the money under the Proceeds of Crime Act. He will be brought back before the same court next year.
Image: Moosey / Shutterstock
