GAOL FOR FOUR YEARS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 652, 2 May 1929, Page 9

GAOL FOR FOUR YEARS

COMPANY CHAIRMAN SENTENCED CONVERSION OF £43,000 (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) Reed. 11.55 a.m. LONDON, WedSentenced in the Old Bailey to four years* imprisonment for converting moneys to his own use, C. A. Brandreth was also ordered to pay the costs of the prosecution. When Brandreth, former chairman of directors of Nersag, Ltd., who was charged on February 10 with the conversion of £43,000 from the funds of the company to his own use, counsel for the firm, Mr. Roome, said accused drew a cheque for £54,000 and bought a house on which he paid a deposit of £SOO in notes. He completed the purchase within a few days and lived in it under an assumed name. Brandreth shaved off his moustache, said counsel. He bought a motor-car for £764 and some furniture for £2BO. He paid for them in Treasury notes. His intention was to disappear and come to life again as “J. Gordon Bell.” Counsel for the defence, Mr. Frampton said accused was ill and worried. Possibly he did a silly thing but he never tried to get away. The matter was purely one of accounts. His holding in the company, even at the present price of the shares, far exceeded the sum he was charged with having converted to his own use.