Letting agent in £70k fraud went on to work for NAEA President’s firm

The former owner of a lettings agency could go to jail after admitting stealing nearly £70,000. The case was yesterday mentioned in the House of Lords, following a briefing by Eye.

Roy Jackson, 39, ran Suffolk Lettings in Ipswich.

It closed down suddenly in December 2012 after failing to pay dozens of landlords.

Jackson went missing and could not be contacted as police investigated complaints. As their inquiry continued, it became apparent that there had been a major fraud involving landlords and tenants.

However despite the ongoing investigation by police as it turned out, Jackson – who it seems had not changed his name – was by then working as a lettings manager for the entirely unsuspecting Martyn Gerrard, the highly reputable firm run by current NAEA President Simon Gerrard. He is also said to have to have gone on to work for Countrywide.

Last night, a director of Martyn Gerrard told Eye that Jackson had been supplied to them by a specialist recruitment firm. His CV appeared good and had mentioned that he had worked for Countrywide in Chesham. On paper, there had been no reason whatever to doubt him.

By the time Jackson was eventually arrested at Stansted Airport on September 29,  he had worked for Martyn Gerrard’s Finchley office in north London for six months. The first the firm knew of of a problem was when he did not turn up on what should have been his first day back at work after a holiday.

By then, Jackson had been charged with fraud and remanded in jail.

Jackson is in now custody awaiting sentencing, which is likely to be in three weeks’ time.

Bizarrely Jackson – described as rotund – has claimed that before going into the lettings industry, he was part of the male strippers troupe, the Dreamboys.

At Ipswich Crown Court, Jackson pleaded guilty to a count of fraud by false representation. The fraud involved some 48 properties and took place between January 1, 2011, and January 30, 2013.

Suffolk Lettings is totally unconnected to firms of similar names.

As the law stands, there will be absolutely nothing to stop Jackson working in lettings in future.

Yesterday evening, David Smith, a director of Martyn Gerrard, told Eye: “There was nothing on his CV to suggest we shouldn’t employ him. We knew he had run his own lettings agency, but he said it hadn’t worked out so he had closed it down and then we understood he had then gone to Thailand for a month.

“We are obviously having discussions with the recruitment agency that supplied him, as to his references and how they checked him out.

“I am not sure that licensing lettings agents would have prevented this, but certainly, he could in future return to working in the industry, and that is exactly where licensing would be a step forward.”

Smith added that Martyn Gerrard was very confident that its own procedures would have prevented any fraud by Jackson when he worked for the firm.

Yesterday, Baroness Hayter of Camden – pushing for regulation of letting agents in the House of Lords – mentioned the Jackson case after being sent brief details yesterday morning by Eye.

Here is how the Ipswich Star has reported the case.

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One Comment

  1. PeeBee

    “There was nothing on his CV to suggest we shouldn’t employ him." Well… there's a first!

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