Council cash theft shame
Published on 8th November 2007 in News
Two highly-regarded council officers could be jailed for treating more than £400,000 of taxpayers' cash like a personal piggy bank.
Paul Hinks (40) and Neil Poskitt (35) appeared shame-faced before Hull Crown Court as they pleaded guilty to a three-year scam of stealing luxury items they bought using the East Riding Council housing budget.
Police believe the pair split profits 50-50 in the con, which the council estimated was worth as much as £440,000 over three and a half years.
It is alleged they bought a host of electrical goods – including iPods - keeping some for themselves and selling others to colleagues and friends - and sometimes just giving items away.
Police said they bought satellite navigation systems, phones, fridge-freezers, bike show tickets, electronic garage gates and a Victorian letterbox.
Among the fraudulently obtained items were plasma televisions, digital boxes, a remote control lighting system, a karaoke machine, de luxe roof windows, a £6,500 in-car entertainment system, a Subaru car exhaust, and a model steam engine.
The pair pleaded guilty to a single charge of conspiracy to steal between April, 2003 and January 1, 2007 when they appeared at Hull Crown Court on Friday.
Mr Hinks, the former housing maintenance manager, of The Parkway, Snaith, and Mr Poskitt, a housing maintenance officer responsible for gas and electricity of Myrtle Avenue, Selby, sat together outside court as they waited to plead.
They have both disputed the figures claimed by prosecution. They also pleaded not guilty to a charge of converting criminal property.
The pair were caught last December when an auditor noticed the council had been sent an invoice on behalf of the housing maintenance department for a motorcycle exhaust. Both men were immediately suspended and have since resigned.
Speaking outside court Detective Constable Graham Duncan, of the economic crime unit at Humberside Police, said: "This was conducted for greed.
"They both held a position of trust and both of them abused it at the cost of the taxpayers of the East Riding.
"They did this for their own personal gain and kept some of the luxury items. When we were first notified by the council, we were given just a sample of invoices.
"When they were first interviewed they said that was everything. Then we started digging and going back over the years. We were surprised at the extent of the scam. They got away with it because they were held in very high esteem, particularly Hinks."
The scam worked because the items they ordered from companies were listed on invoices as product codes rather than naming an item like an iPod which would easily have been spotted. The bill for the products was sent to East Riding Council and because they were items ordered by men who were trusted they were authorised.
Because the pair disputed the amount of £440,000, they will now appear for another hearing at Hull Crown Court on January 7. They will either be sentenced on the basis that they stole the full amount alleged, or a special hearing will be held where a judge will determine what figure to base sentencing on in a Newton hearing.
A proceeds-of-crime application is to be made by Humberside Police to recover the money lost from the pair.
Judge Roger Thorn, QC, adjourned the case for the preparation of pre-sentence reports and remanded the two accused on bail. They will be sentenced in the New Year.
* East Riding Council would only say it had worked closely with the police on the case.