Businessman is jailed following £1.24m fraud

Jonathan Guy Brudenell, known as Guy Brudenell, of Lammas Court, Scarcroft, Leeds, formerly of Runswick Bay, Whitby, was a well-known North Yorkshire businessman, who was prominent in society and a friend and acquaintance of many wealthy individuals.

On the face of it, he appeared to be a wealthy and successful property developer who led a luxury lifestyle with beautiful homes, cars, expensive holidays and a helicopter.

But by 2008, his lifestyle had became nothing but a façade, covering up spiralling debt and unsustainable borrowing, resulting in him being declared bankrupt in October 2009.

Three North Yorkshire businessmen, who regarded Brudenell as a friend, became the victims of his desperate attempts to keep up this façade. Investigations by North Yorkshire Police uncovered a web of lies, deception and fraud as Brudenell attempted to keep up his lifestyle.

They invested in what they thought were property deals - but the cash was used to pay off debts.

Yesterday he appeared at Teesside Crown Court for sentencing, where he was given four years and eight months’ imprisonment for the fraud offences and eight months’ imprisonment for perjury with the sentences to run consecutively.

He was originally charged with 12 offences under the Fraud Act. Earlier at York Crown Court he pleaded guilty to six of those offences and at a previous hearing at Teesside admitted five of the remaining offences with one allowed to remain on file. He also admitted one charge of perjury for making a false statement during a bankruptcy petition hearing.

Det Insp Ian Wills, head of North Yorkshire Police’s Major Fraud Team, said after yesterday’s court hearing: “Brudenell blatantly abused the trust of his friends.”