Former financial advisor from Southport jailed for eight years for £4.5m investment fraud

have today, Friday 21st December, welcomed the sentencing of a former financial advisor from Southport for his involvement in a multi-million pound investment fraud.

Neil Bartlett, 53, of Delamere Road, Ainsdale, used £4.5m of his victims’ money to fund an extravagant lifestyle of foreign travel, top hotels and gambling.

Today he was sentenced to eight years when he appeared at Liverpool Crown Court.

Earlier this year Merseyside Police received a number of reports from Action Fraud (the National Fraud & Cyber Crime Reporting Centre) about Bartlett’s business practices and a fraud investigation commenced.

The fraud involved ‘investing’ people’s money, pensions and often life savings into what they thought was a safe investment account with interest. It emerged that Bartlett had created a sole trader account with the same name as the company he worked for and paid himself the money.

It is believed the fraud started in approximately 2013 and continued for five years. In total there were 24 victims.

Earlier this year he took over £740,000from friends he had known since pre-school, together with his friend’s parents and his own family. He also took advantage of being the Power of Attorney for a vulnerable elderly victim and defrauded her.

He left the UK this year for Russia, where he was living the high life in top hotels, foreign travel and gambling on the stock market.

He was arrested after flying back into Manchester Airport on Tuesday 27^th November.

He has pleaded guilty to 14 counts of fraud and has asked for 14 further fraud offences to be taken into consideration.

Detective Sergeant Christopher Hawitt said: “We welcome the sentencing of Neil Bartlett and hope that he will now spend the considerable future thinking about the consequences of his actions.

“It is never nice for anyone to fall victim to fraud but this was a particularly unpleasant case for Bartlett’s victims as some of them had known him for over 50 years and so trusted him with, in some cases, their life savings.

“Bartlett thought of nobody but himself and furnishing his excessive lifestyle with the money he took from those who trusted him most.

“They are now forced to pick up the pieces of their lives but many have been left without the financial nest egg which was rightfully theirs and which they worked for many years to earn. Infact some of his victims, who have worked all their lives, are faced with the prospect of having to return to work.

“I would like to reassure the public that reports of any kind of fraud are taken extremely seriously and will be thoroughly investigated.

“If someone believes they have fallen victim to any kind of fraud then I would urge them to contact Action Fraud via their website www.actionfraud.police.uk or by calling 101 or the confidential Crimestoppers line on 0800 555 111.”

VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENTS

One of Bartlett’s victim said: “I cannot forgive him for what he has done. I feel he came back into our lives, and whilst we welcomed him back he has just abused all trust. He calculated what he was doing and groomed us.

“He has taken £450,000 from myself, my partner, my parents and my other best friend. We have all worked hard all our lives to accumulate that money and it was our future security. He then blew the lot on prostitutes, escorts and expensive holidays. I do not want to know or see him ever again and hope he gets the maximum sentence possible while we try to pick up the pieces and plan for our uncertain future.”

Another victim said: “It goes without saying that I wish I had never met Bartlett, except that I now know that no one, no matter how well you think you know them, no matter what their supposed field of expertise, can be trusted when it comes to money.

“No one was too vulnerable, no matter how old, no matter how wealthy, no matter how well he knew you, Bartlett would take your money. No matter what questions you had, he schmoozed you with his charm, baffled you with his purported insider knowledge of the tricks of the trade. He encouraged you to persuade your friends and family to invest with him, enticing you with promises of commission. He has no conscience, he is morally devoid. I have witnessed and previously commented on his chameleon like nature even before we became aware of his duplicitous criminal behaviour. If he is showing signs of remorse, take it from me, it is an act.”

See also

https://www.otsnews.co.uk/judge-jails-care-home-boss-barton-21-years/