An interior installations company director has been jailed for 18 months after South Gloucestershire Council’s Trading Standards team prosecuted him for multiple thefts from customers.
James Brown, 55, of All Saints Close, Longwell Green, appeared at Bristol Crown Court on June 20 where he was handed the 18-month sentence. He had pleaded guilty to the 19 charges of theft at an earlier hearing, which relate to business done under his company names of JR Brown Interior Installations Ltd and Brown & Son Interiors Ltd.
The thefts amount to over £101,000 taken from 19 customers of Brown’s companies during 2018 and 2019 and again during 2023.
South Gloucestershire Trading Standards brought the prosecution after officers received a number of similar complaints covering six months in 2023 alleging that customers had paid money to Brown & Son Interiors Ltd, a business that predominantly supplied and fitted kitchens and bathrooms but had received little or nothing in return.
During September 2023 Brown’s customers were told he had suffered a mental breakdown and that all jobs would be delayed, but this was closely followed by an announcement that Brown & Son Interiors Ltd had ceased trading and had entered into liquidation. At this point 15 customers of the company were left out of pocket, with some already having had their old kitchens ripped out by Brown and no prospect of the new kitchen they had paid him for being supplied.
Examination of Brown’s bank accounts revealed that during the six months in 2023 when customers had paid him approximately £85,000 nearly £40,000 had been taken from those accounts as ‘drawings’ for Brown’s personal use.
Trading Standards then started to look at the previous company and discovered a very familiar pattern of complaints.
Action under the Proceeds of Crime Act is ongoing which has involved securing a restraint order over Brown’s £450,000 home.