Jones & Ors, R, v
July 16, 2014
COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL DIVISION)
United Kingdom
CORAM
- LORD JUSTICE PITCHFORD
- MR JUSTICE OPENSHAW
Areas of Law
- Criminal Law and Procedure
- Evidence Law
- Banking and Finance Law
- Property and Real Estate Law
July 16, 2014
COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL DIVISION)
United Kingdom
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
After a fourmonth trial at Mold Crown Court before HHJ Rhys Rowlands, a jury convicted Antony LowryHuws, Sheila Rose Whalley, Frank Darlington, Susan LowryHuws, and solicitor Nicholas Jones of a longrunning mortgage fraud that financed a buytolet property portfolio through inflated valuations and nominee leases. The scheme leveraged an authority to act enabling Nicholas Jones to handle conveyancing for numerous familyandfriend nominees, channeling leasehold mortgage funds into freehold purchases without deposits, while surveyors supplied valuations aligning with stated sale prices. On appeal, Jones argued the judge wrongly excluded disciplinarytribunal findings criticizing expert Frances Silvermans objectivity; Susan LowryHuws challenged the sufficiency of evidence given George Walkers acquittal; Antony LowryHuws sought to appeal out of time; and both Antony and Whalley appealed their sentences. The Court of Appeal upheld the convictions, refused Antonys renewed application, dismissed Antonys sentence appeal, and reduced Whalleys sentence to five years based on exceptional personal mitigation and consistent positive conduct in custody.
J U D G M E N T (As Approved by the Court)
LORD JUSTICE PITCHFORD:
Introduction
On 6 and 7 June 2013, following a trial lasting some 4 months, before His Honour Judge Rhys Rowlands at Mold Crown Court, the jury returned verdicts of guilty of conspiracy to defraud against five defendants: Antony Lowry-Huws, Sheila Rose Whalley, Frank Darlington, Susan Lowry-Huws and Nicholas Jones. The essence of the fraud alleged was that the defendants, adopting different roles, set out to fund a very substantial property portfolio by deceiving mortgage lenders. We shall describe how the fraud worked in a moment.
The prime movers were the appellants Antony Lowry-Huws and Sheila Rose Whalley. Antony Lowry-Huws was sentenced to 7 years' imprisonment and disqualified from acting as a company director for a period of 10 years. Sheila Rose Whalley was sentenced to 6 years' imprisonment. She was also disqualified from acting as a director for 10 years.
The applicant Susan Lowry-Huws, Antony's wife, was said to be on the fringes of the conspiracy. She was sentenced to a suspended sentence order comprising 12 months' imprisonment suspended for 24 months, with an unpaid work requirements of 300 hours.
The appellant Nicholas Jones was a solicitor whose role was to conduct the conveyancing transactions by which the fraud was perpetuated. He was sentenced to 4 years' imprisonment. Frank Darlington was a building surveyor whose role was to provide inflated valuations both of freehold market value and rental value of the properties purchased. He was sentenced to 4 years' imprisonment.
A second surveyor, George Walker, was acquitted by the jury. He was the only defendant in the trial who gave evidence.
Each of those sentenced to a term of immediate imprisonment had spent time on remand subject to a qualifying curfew. In each case the judge ordered 46 days to count towards the custodial part of the sentence pursuant to section 240A of the Criminal Justice Act 2003.
Grounds of Appeal
In the case of the appellant Nicholas Jones the prosecution relied upon the evidence of an expert witness, Mrs Frances Silverman. In bare summary her opinion was that there were features of the transactions known to Nicholas Jones that were symptomatic of the fraudulent nature of the course of property transactions he was instructed to complete.
It was Jones' case that Mrs Silverman's evidence was in some respects ill informed and in others biased. The appellant Jones appeals against conviction on