Gambling conman jailed for five years

A gambling addict who funded his obsession by becoming a professionalfraudster has been jailed for five years after he siphoned money from budding fashion entrepreneurs.

Mike Smallman was convicted after trial of using his ex-girlfriend'sidentity to take out pay-day loans and fraudulently operating APM ClothingDevelopments in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham.

The 52-year-old hoped to strike a deal with ManchesterUnited to produce their football strip.

Prosecutor Liam O’Brien said Smallman gave “sob stories” to customersabout the failures to produce clothing orders and also made threats oflibel actions in relation to negative posts about the business on social media.

Judge Tony Briggs told Teesside Crown Court that there was evidence ofthousands of pounds going to gambling accounts, money that was abstracted from his company and that it was a high culpability matter with a large number of victims.

About £175,000 was taken from customers with Judge Briggs declaring thatmore than £100,000 was as a result of fraud, committed between July 1, 2012 and November 30 2013.

One investor handed over his life savings of £19,000 and a young man whoused an inheritance from his grandfather was said to have seen his dreams of moving into the clothing industry “crushed”.

Smallman also accepted several thousand pounds from one customer even after he had been reported to police, while only a handful of refunds were paid.

The fraudster was previously jailed in 2008 for education fraudwhich duped thousands of students, before being released half way through a seven year jail sentence and has convictions dating back to the late 1980s for obtaining property by deception.

He is still subject to a 10 year ban from holding a directorship was alsosaid to have a “vast amount” of money unpaid from a previous six figure proceeds of crime order imposed on him.

A probation report described him as having a thinking skills deficit andsaid he continued to express his innocence over his latest crimes.

Smallman, who was allowed to address the judge from the dock, said hewished he could turn the clock back and he had come out of prison with the genuine intent to run a business and make a success of it.

Smallman's barrister William Byrne said it had been a non-fraudulententerprise originally and some items were produced for customers to a satisfactory standard.

Judge Briggs described Smallman, whose last address was Castle Hill,Richmond, North Yorkshire, as an intelligent and articulate man with a very plausible manner and said his energy if channelled directly in business would make him a legitimate success.

After the case Detective Sergeant Jonathan Rowland, of North Yorkshire Police welcomed the sentence.