Consultant who used Federation money as ‘his own piggy bank’ given suspended sentence
A consultant who faked payments to peers and defrauded the Police Federation of England and Wales of more than £40,000 has been given suspended prison sentence and banned from being a company director.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Christopher McEvoy, 47, treated company money as his “own piggy bank” to pay off overdrafts and put money into betting accounts.
McEvoy had been found guilty at Southwark Crown Court on December 14 of defrauding the Federation of part of the £250,000 it gave him for advisory services.
On Friday (February 2) McEvoy was handed a suspended 14-month prison sentence and disqualified from being the director of any company for two years.
Sarah Place, a Specialist Fraud Prosecutor in the CPS, said: “Christopher McEvoy treated company money as his own piggy bank to dip into whenever he liked.
“We estimate that the Police Federation lost at least £42,000 as a result of his offending.
“At the CPS’s request the court disqualified him from being a company director for two-years so he won’t now be able to form or run any company.”
McEvoy claimed he had paid peers £77,000 for expenses and advice they provided to the Constables’ Advisory Panel, which is part of the Police Federation, between 2014 and 2015. But an examination of bank statements revealed that he had transferred only £36,000 to their accounts.
At the hearing in December, the jury at Southwark Crown Court heard that the advisory panel was set up in January 2014 by the Constables’ Central Committee. The panel’s role was to advise its parent committee on reforms and improvements to policing. Its membership included a cross-party group of peers. The committee hired McEvoy’s company and gave it £250,000 upfront to support the work of the panel.
Following the guilty verdict in December, Ms Place said: “Christopher McEvoy was trusted with £250,000 to provide services he had promised to deliver but chose instead to defraud his client.
“Although some of the money was legitimately spent, he also inflated his expenditure to pocket the difference, moved money to his personal account to pay off recurring overdrafts, and moved money into betting accounts. Despite being repeatedly asked he has never provided all his invoices or VAT receipts.
“Christopher McEvoy is a dishonest man and the jury saw through his claims.”