An estate and letting agent who stole £123,000 from his customers has escaped jail.
David Whitefield has been given a two-year sentence suspended for two years.
Victims remain out of pocket and have expressed outrage at the leniency of the sentence.
Whitefield, who ran Whitefield Properties, took rental money due to landlords and tenants’ deposits over a four-year period.
The deposits were never protected – they should have been paid into the Deposit Protection Service – and, like rental amounts owed to landlords, were paid into the firm’s own account.
Stafford Crown Court was told that there had been 1,200 payments into the firm’s ‘working capital’ account.
The court heard that Whitefield had taken the money to try and keep his business afloat.
When landlords tried to find out when their rent was coming, they were told by staff on Whitefield’s orders that he was out.
The Staffordshire firm, with branches at Milton, Leek and Crewe, went into administration in 2014.
Despite the fraud, it owed over £198,000.
The administration, handled by Begbies Traynor, was in April 2014.
Two new firms, LMC Sales and LMC Rentals, had started trading at the end of the previous month, it was reported at the time.
In the court case, Whitefield pleaded guilty to fraudulent trading between April 2010 and April 2014, and to two charges of fraud.
Sarah Badrawy, mitigating, said Whitefield was now studying for a degree in computing and hoped to pursue a new career.
She said: “The references given in court speak of a loving father and husband. He has shown significant remorse and regret. He is also suffering a medical condition with his heart.
“He was running a business that grew and he couldn’t keep up with it. He was out of his depth.”
The court heard that a proceeds of crime hearing is expected to take place shortly.
Sentencing Whitefield to a suspended sentence and 300 hours of unpaid work, Recorder Edwin Coke said: “Don’t for one moment think this is a anything like a let-off. If you re-offend then you will face prison.”
Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s trading standards were behind the prosecution of Whitefield, who was also banned from being a director for five years.
If this story had been published on Friday I would’ve genuinely believed it to be the April Fool. I’d suggest the 300 hours work have already been paid very handsomely in advance.
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£410 per hour – crime pays, clearly.
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It’s just the way I think but I reckon its £660/hour, there’s another £75,000 owed to someone.
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Coincidentally about the same as my solicitor charges 🙂
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I don’t care what his personal circumstances are or were; theft is theft. he didn’t have much consideration for his clients personal circumstances.
It infuriates me that on the one hand the government are handing out more and more red tape to ‘protect the consumer’ and on the other hand the judiciary are saying that as long as you have an excuse then theft isn’t a crime
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Looking at the circumstances surrounding this sentence it is quite clear this was a planned criminal operation – who is to blame for the ridiculous sentence ? Lets start at the top, ‘The Home Office with their weak leadership’ , the judiciary for failing to deal with villains as villains, and who are the losers? jolly old you and I who are continually ripped off either by MP’s or the ‘System. If I choose to offend I expect to be punished, especially for this level of crime ………… and as for the war on the PRS that just beggars belief with only the tenants suffering increased rents brought about by an arrogant little posh boy.
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