Top Leeds restaurant owner in £380,000 wine buffs scam

Jeremy Gillis made an inquiry phone call in a false name to a national newspaper group before adverts were placed in March 2010 for Surpluswines.co.uk promoting the sale of clearance wines and champagne.

Hundreds of customers complained after placing orders worth thousands of pounds over the following days which were then never delivered.

David Dixon, prosecuting, told Bradford Crown Court yesterday behind the site was Mardenis Ltd based at No 3 York Place, Leeds, a fine dining restaurant business run by Belgian national Denis Lefrancq.

By early last year it was trading at a loss. “Whether that was the reason for what followed is perhaps debateable,” said Mr Dixon.

On February 2, Gillis using the name of Marcus Holland, contacted the Telegraph Media Group purporting to act for Mardenis, saying they were going to sell discounted wines from bankrupt French restaurants and had a £30,000 advertising budget.

A recording of the discussion, which covered the cost of adverts and the best day for them to appear, was later analysed by a voice expert who identified Gillis.

Mr Dixon said adverts were subsequently placed by others in the Daily Mail, the Daily Telegraph and the Mail on Sunday, at a cost of £35,000 which was never paid.

Lefrancq arranged for a freephone number to an address in Grant Avenue, Leeds, and details of the wines available and prices appeared in the advert and the website through a man he recruited.

The adverts appeared on March 6 and 7 offering huge savings on fine wines and champagnes, up to 60 per cent discount of normal prices. The freephone number was used to place orders.

Within a week newspaper staff began to receive complaints that wines had not been delivered.

One hopeful customer Ernest Hanneman, who ordered £250 worth, was told no money would be taken before delivery but then found it had gone from his account.

Another did some detective work when his order did not arrive and went to the restaurant on March 29 but found it had closed down.

It was then discovered Lefrancq had handed a bag of receipts to an insolvency practitioner before leaving.

By May 22, 669 customers had complained to Barclaycard because the bank’s electronic card machine was used by the restaurant to process the orders.

Lefrancq, 35, was later traced to Prague where he was arrested on a European arrest warrant and brought back to the UK. He will be sentenced next month.

Gillis, 33, then of Brackenhurst Drive, Leeds, was given nine months in prison suspended for two years with 240 hours’ unpaid work after admitting conspiracy to defraud.

Judge Rodney Grant said he was being sentenced on the basis he made the inquiry phone call then had “no further involvement or knowledge of what was to happen.”

Gillis received a community order in 2005 for designer trademark offences involving goods shipped from China where the court was told he now lives.

Simon Bickler QC representing Gillis said he regretted making the call on Lefrancq’s behalf, but was on the periphery of what later became a serious offence.