Fraud is not a victimless crime, according to the police officer who helped to put Alan Baker the father of “ruthless conman” Tim Baker behind bars last week.
Alan Baker was jailed for two from being a company director for six years at Southwark Crown Court after being convicted of money laundering.

Victims in the case involved Boston, Lincolnshire-based recruiter Allied Staff Management (ASM) and West Sussex-based recruiter Revo Recruitment, as well as HSBC Invoice Finance.

At the end of the nine-day trial, His Honour Judge Peter Testar told Baker, from Lydbury North Shropshire, that he had shown no remorse.

Tim Baker, Alan Baker’s son, previously of Wolverhampton Road in Walsall, is serving six years for two frauds involving recruitment companies, which cost RBS and HSBC £700,000 - the latter being the one in which Alan Baker has now been implicated.

During the nine-day trial the jury heard how the owners of ASM were left with debts of £295,000, including £256,000 owed to HSBC Invoice Finance.

DC Tony Bandy, from the City of London Police Economic Crime Department, told Recruiter that ASM and Revo Recruitment, “had been badly affected” by the actions of Alan Baker and his son.

“It affected people and these were not victimless crimes,” Bandy said.

If people take the payroll money, it’s money taken from the weekly paid temporary workers.

During the trial, the court heard that Estella Meeds, one of the owners of ASM, believed that Tim Baker had ruined her life after he took control of the company in the spring of 2008.

See recruiter.co.uk for reports into the trials of both Alan and Tim Baker.