A PENNILESS Scottish bankrupt conned a businesswoman into financing a new
venture by claiming to be a millionaire who had won the Queen’s Award for
Exports.
Patrick McGarry was branded as “a thoroughly dishonest man” by a judge
after he heard he had cheated creditors and told a string of lies about his
qualifications.
He claimed to have degrees or doctorates from Plymouth and London
universities, to be a medical doctor, to own several homes in Cornwall and
have £11 million in the bank.
In reality he was an undischarged bankrupt who owed £500,000 after the
collapse of his WRS Energy wind farm firm helped set up in Scotland. He
conned the official receiver by secretly transferring money to his adult
sons, failing to disclose a pension he cashed in, and not declaring a
£130-a-day consultancy.
He persuaded Sheila Barrington to invest £2,000, saying he was a wealthy
doctor with properties in Cornwall and showed her a bank statement with an
£11m balance.
McGarry, 62, whose business address in Scotland was Melville Crescent,
Edinburgh, but who now lives in Cornwall, admitted two counts of fraud,
running a company while bankrupt, and four counts of concealing or failing
to declare income or assets.
He was jailed for 16 months, suspended for two years, and curfewed for
three months at Exeter Crown Court.
Judge Erik Salomonsen told him: “It is clear during this period of time you
were thoroughly dishonest. For your own reasons you determined you were not
going to acknowledge your bankruptcy and chose to proceed as you had done
before.”
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