Two recruiters cleared of conspiring to defraud Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) have told Recruiter they are determined to build another successful recruitment business, despite falling prey to “professional conman” Tim Baker.

Stephen Lawrence and Mark Starling, of Chelmsford, Essex, were acquitted of conspiracy to defraud RBS on 7 May after a fiveweek trial at Southwark Crown Court.

The pair’s business, Quo Vadis Technology Limited (QVTL), had a turnover of £6m before it was targeted by Baker, who has started a sixyear prison term after pleading guilty to frauds involving RBS and HSBC.

However, the pair are now looking to move on. In an exclusive interview with Recruiter, Starling and Lawrence said they were looking forward to building another business. Lawrence added: “We want to enjoy the journey a bit more.”

The pair has set up ITS Europe, working from an office in Chelmsford, to supply IT professionals.

Starling said: “It’s going back to growing a business and developing a business. It’s our grassroots, it’s what we do well.”

Despite the tribulations of the trial, the pair said they have emerged stronger for the experience. “I can honestly say that, bar health and family issues, there is nothing that would faze me,” said Starling. “It’s actually nice just to have to worry about running your own business.”

They were introduced to Baker at the end of 2005 and Lawrence said: “He was presented to me as a semi-retired, multi-millionaire tax barrister. He always wore expensive jewellery, handmade suits, shoes. He gave us business cards with accreditations on and to all intents and purposes, this guy was who he purported to be. There was no reason to doubt him.”

Baker’s lavish lifestyle continued, with Lawrence revealing Baker had once spent £18,000 on palm trees for his wife, only to get rid of them because she did not like them. Furthermore, he had a £50,000 stereo system and an Aston Martin sports car.

Baker was able to keep up his trail of deceit for so long because he could keep track of the lies he was telling, said Starling. “He is a professional conman,” added Lawrence.

Baker’s lies began to unravel when QVTL failed to complete its bank reconciliation on time in August 2006. RBS called the police in and Lawrence and Starling were arrested on 24 January 2007.

Baker was caught out after a picture in Recruiter showed him attending the Recruiter Awards for Excellence 2008, while on bail for the RBS fraud. The police were able to trace him from this picture. Starling said: “In my mind, I was thinking, ‘It can’t be him’, but it was. There he was, at an awards ceremony, and he’d been arrested!”

Lawrence and Starling said the trial was an ordeal for both them and their families. Lawrence said: “The pressure and the distraction this causes with your personal and professional life is hard to explain until you’ve been through it.”

Of Baker, Lawrence said: “He destroys people’s lives. We think he got off lightly.”

BACKGROUND
Tim Baker used his payroll company, UCAT, to take on the payroll functions of two recruitment companies: Quo Vadis Technology Limited, based in Chelmsford, and Crawley-based Revo Recruitment.

QVTL had an invoice factoring agreement with RBS, while Revo had a similar arrangement with HSBC.

In the RBS fraud, Baker used the factoring agreement to draw down money fraudulently. This is known as ‘fresh air invoicing’ and it cost the bank £537,000 between December 2005 and April 2007.

For the HSBC fraud, Baker asked Revo to pay monies into the account of another company set up by a relative who had control of recruitment business Allied Staff Management (ASM). ASM would invoice Revo for the money it was owed. However, by diverting the money from Revo to the relative’s account, the money was claimed twice. This cost HSBC £176,000 over a four-month period from January 2008.

Baker, of Wolverhampton Road, Walsall, received a total of six years in prison for the two frauds on 15 May — four years for the RBS fraud and two years for the HSBC con, to run consecutively. He is banned from holding a company directorship for eight years.

His wife Rachael Baker, of Great Saredon, Wolverhampton, was given a 12-month sentence, suspended for two years. She had pleaded guilty to money-laundering in connection with the RBS fraud. She is banned from holding a company directorship for five years. She was also ordered to carry out 100 hours’ unpaid work.

An accomplice, Stephen Roberts, of Goldthorn Park, Wolverhampton, was jailed for a total of 20 months for conspiracy to defraud and money laundering. He is banned from holding a company directorship for five years.

At his sentencing at Southwark Crown Court, His Honour Judge Peter Testar said of Baker: “He is a very accomplished and, to my mind, ruthless conman.”

An RBS spokesman said: “We welcome and respect the court’s decision in this matter, which demonstrates that prosecutions will take place over fraudulent activity.”