Car sale fraudster sentenced to additional 27 months

28 Mehefin, 2017 | Eitemau newyddion

Nigel Thorne, a convicted fraudster, had his default sentence of 27 months’ imprisonment activated in his absence yesterday for failure to pay a £198,090.60 confiscation order.

Nigel Thorne, 50, from Cardiff, was convicted in March 2009 for deception and theft in relation to fraudulently obtaining payments for car sales at the Ken Thorne Group of companies before its collapse.  He was sentenced in April 2009 to three and a half years and was disqualified for acting as a company director for three years.

His conviction followed a joint investigation by the Serious Fraud Office and South Wales Police into a £6m asset stripping fraud.  Ken Thorne Group raised finance from finance companies on cars that it purchased.  However, in the months leading up to Ken Thorne Group’s collapse, Thorne falsely represented to the finance companies that Ken Thorne Group had paid for 49 cars and had obtained clear title which could be passed to the finance companies. In reality Ken Thorne Group had not paid the supplier anything for these cars.

HHJ Beddoe ruled in May 2010 that Nigel Thorne’s family had received money from the Ken Thorne Group of companies which amounted to gifts.  Thorne did not appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court yesterday and so the default sentence was activated in his absence.

His brother Andrew Thorne was also convicted and sentenced for offences relating to the company’s collapse. For more information on the convictions and confiscation orders please see here and here.