Company chairman jailed for £7m fraud

A company chairman from Newcastle upon Tyne who swindled banks out of £7.5 million before fleeing to Jordan has been jailed for seven years.

Anthony Prudhoe submitted more than 1,000 false invoices to obtain money for his InterGB group. He spent £165,000 on a Bentley and £20,000 on wine in three years before leaving Britain. He thought he could not be extradited from Jordan, where he became a Muslim and took a second wife. At Leeds Crown Court Prudhoe, 60, admitted six charges of fraudulent trading. His personal assistant, Linda Straughan, 60, with whom he had an affair, was found guilty and jailed for two years.

Michael Bird, 49, of Co Durham, and Mark Grainger, 41, of Stockton on Tees, were also jailed for the fraud.

Firecrews attacked

The Fire Brigades Union called for action to protect crews from a “daily diet” of bricks, bottles and missiles. It said that the official figure showing a fall in the number of attacks in England and Wales, from 1,200 in 2005-06 to 400 in the past year, was “seriously wrong” and “bore no relation” to daily experience.

Murder charge

Harmohinder Kaur Sanghera, 22, from Solihull, West Midlands, appeared before Bury magistrates yesterday charged with the murder of Sana Ali, 17, of Bury. Mrs Ali, who was ten weeks’ pregnant, had been stabbed. The defendant was remanded in custody. Sair Ali, 24, and a boy, 16, were released on bail.

Teacher freed

A teacher jailed for indecent assault against an “infatuated” pupil of 15 almost 30 years ago was freed by the Court of Appeal. Geoffrey Cassidy, 55, now of Ashton-on-Trent, Derbyshire, who was jailed in March for nine months by Preston Crown Court after admitting the charges, was given a suspended sentence.

Correction

The widow of Roy Prescott, a nuclear test veteran who died in September from lung cancer, is receiving a war pension from the British Government, contrary to our report (“US pays compensation to family of British victim”, May 15).

Help needed for 100,000 runaways

The Children’s Society has called for more to be done to help the 100,000 youngsters who run away from home each year.

The charity wants a national network of emergency accommodation and measures to help children with problems at home.

The BBC reports that one in six runaway children end up sleeping rough, risking violence and sexual assault. More than two thirds are not even reported missing.

The charity, which has been working with runaways since the 1980s, says that services differ across the country. The charity has been working with the Department for Education and Skills and will publish a report this year.

Trailer kills woman

A 37-year-old mother-of-three was killed when a trailer carrying timber broke free from its tow and hit her as she walked along a pavement. The driver was arrested at the scene of the crash in the village of Bere Regis, Dorset. A three-year-old girl who was also walking on the pavement suffered a head injury.

Policeman jailed

Duncan Warry, 48, from Whiteley, Hampshire, a police sergeant with a distinguished record in Hayling Island, was jailed for four months for assaulting Joanne, his ex-wife, by squeezing a handbag strap around her neck. He had pleaded guilty at Guildford Crown Court to causing actual bodily harm.

Terrorist funds case

Abu Izzadeen, 32, of Leytonstone, the man who barracked John Reid, the Home Secretary, in East London last September, was one of six men who appeared at the Old Bailey accused of raising money for terrorism. The men were remanded in custody until a hearing on September 21.

Monkey thief freed

A man jailed for a year for stealing a monkey has been freed by the Court of Appeal. Marlon Brown, 23, of Brixton, stole SpongeBob, an endangered Bolvian squirrel monkey, from Chessington World of Adventures in Surrey last year. His sentence was reduced to 50 hours of community work.

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