£20,000 scam uncovered in sting

A TOWN Hall fraudster who conned Camden Council out of £20,000 faces a jail term after being found guilty by a jury.
Rates inspector Neil Messer, 40, turned red and shook his head repeatedly as he was found guilty of conspiracy to defraud alongside accomplice Jason Procter, a convicted drug dealer, at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Friday.
The pair, who met through Messer’s brother-in-law in a West Hampstead wine bar, worked in tandem to defraud the council out of business rates in 2002.
They were only caught when a suspicious restaurateur hired a colourful private eye to trap them in an undercover sting.
Procter, acting as an ‘agent’ for a string of Camden businesses, falsely claimed they had been closed for flood repairs or refits and therefore qualified for a tax reduction.
Messer, who knew the shops had not been flooded, changed details on the council’s computer system and shared a cut of the saving with 36-year-old Procter, a man described by his own barrister as “a bit of a Del Boy”.
At least seven businesses, including the Secrets table dancing nightclubs in Finchley Road, Swiss Cottage, Eversholt Street, Somers Town and Gray’s Inn Road, Holborn, two Hatton Garden jewellers and a Chinese take-away in Kilburn High Road, had their rates illegally reduced.
The owner of the nightclubs told the court that he had not known Procter was claiming his clubs were closed.
The jury rejected Messer and Procter’s claim that the business owners had misled them.
They had heard how private eye Christopher Lee trapped Procter in July 2002 by secretly taping him as he discussed the scam at The Knoshery, a café owned by Michael Bloom in Greville Street, Hatton Garden.
Mr Lee, brought in by Mr Bloom after he became suspicious of Procter, was paid £1,000 by the Sunday Telegraph for the tape after Camden Council refused to hire him.
Procter’s lawyer, Michael Latham, claimed Mr Lee had been motivated by money alone and said: “Like his namesake, the vampire tried to suck the blood from his victims.”
But records showed a flurry of desperate phone calls between Messer and Procter as their scheme unravelled.
Internal Town Hall documents found at Procter’s home and the testimony of Messer’s Camden Council colleagues helped convict the pair.
Judge Timothy Dutton QC warned Procter that he was likely to face another jail term. He had served a three-year sentence for possession of cocaine and ecstasy with intent to supply just 18 months before he began the scam with Messer.
He said: “As the instigator of this offence I regard you as the corrupter of Mr Messer.”
He told Messer: “You have to understand that because you were employed in a position of public trust a prison sentence is likely.”
Both Messer, of Hemel Hempstead, Herts, and Procter, of Maida Vale, were bailed until sentencing on April 5, while a psychiatric report into Messer’s health is completed.
A council press official said: “Neil Messer breached Camden Council’s policies and procedures. Since the discovery of the fraud these policies and procedures have been altered to strengthen financial controls relating to the administration of the rate accounting system.
“This includes the rotation of staff to minimise the possibility of collusion with the public. It needs to be recognised that no matter how many controls are in place if there is collusion it can be difficult to prevent fraud.
“The Sunday Telegraph’s action did ensure police involvement in the allegation but the council had already begun an investigation nearly two weeks prior to this.”