Black Country wedding company owners jailed for fraud
A couple who ran a wedding shop in the Black Country have been jailed for moving more than £100,000 from an account which had been frozen as the company was about to be liquidated.
Rodney and Pauline Wallace attempted to deny creditors cash they were owed and submitted false representations to the High Court in order to gain access to the funds.
The couple, of Rednal Park Court, Kings Norton, Birmingham, were both directors of Curio Bridal Boutique in Smethwick.
Mr Wallace, 55, who was also a former director of Avalon Personnel, then set up a phoenix company where he moved £111,000. He also accepted that he and his family had received at least £42,000 of those diverted funds.
Mr Wallace was jailed for 27 months and his wife, 52, received a 10-month sentence. They pleaded guilty to fraud on the first day of their trial in October 2016.
Mr Wallace had already been disqualified from acting as a director in February 2014 for a period of nine years.
Glenn Wicks, who was the officer in charge of the investigation for West Midlands Police, said: "This couple made a false representation to the High Court and also created a phoenix company to continue trading.
"Their actions showed a total disregard to not only the judicial process but to their creditors.
"The sentence imposed on the two shows that anyone who is prepared to break the law during the liquidation of a company will be dealt with seriously."
The convictions of the husband and wife follow an investigation and prosecution by the Insolvency Service, an executive agency of the Department for Business Energy & Industrial Strategy.
