Fraudster farmer who went on the run jailed for five years
Wayne Parker was found guilty last year but failed to turn up to court for sentencing
Last updated 21st Sep 2023
A Mildenhall man who was convicted of fraud totalling around £765,000 has been jailed for five years.
31 year old Wayne Parker was found guilty last October of obtaining hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of credit from suppliers and making no attempt to settle his debts.
Judge Nicola Talbot-Hadley sentenced Parker to serve four years for fraud, 10 months for 19 animal welfare offences investigated by Cambridgeshire Trading Standards to which Parker had previously pleaded guilty, and two months for absconding.
He claimed to be a livestock owner, something which enabled him to access to a large of credit with several different companies.
He went on the run in February after failing to appear in court to hear his sentence being handed down. He was arrested earlier this month near Basingstoke.
Today he was ordered to serve four years behind bars for fraud, a further 10 months for animal welfare offences and two months for going on the run.
The judge told him: “Some of the deals you entered into were clearly going to make a loss and you should have been aware of that."
“You then got yourself into a web of deception, making false promises to pay, reassuring people that money would be forthcoming once you had secured some other business transaction, but it was all based upon fiction and lies.
“To some individuals you made partial payment of monies owed, but for many others a large debt remained outstanding.
“A common thread across all of those individuals was a series of broken promises, endless assurances that payment would be made in time, that monies were on their way, then followed by various dishonest excuses as to why payment was not forthcoming.”
Graham Crisp, Head of Suffolk Trading Standards, said:
“Today’s sentencing is a fantastic outcome for Suffolk Trading Standards and our counterparts in Cambridgeshire that will see justice served to one of East Anglia’s most brazen criminals.
“Our officers have worked tirelessly to pursue this conviction, knowing the impact of Parker’s actions on the farming community, with him giving a bad name to farmers in genuine financial distress.
“His web of lies and deceit eventually caught up with him, and I hope this sends a clear message to anyone tempted to use fraud to fund a lifestyle beyond their means that this crime is unacceptable in Suffolk.”