On the go: The Pensions Regulator has announced it is attempting to recoup £250,000 from a convicted fraudster.
Patrick McLarry, 72, from Bere Alston in Devon, is the former head of a charity for the disabled. He was convicted by Winchester Crown Court in February and is currently serving a five-year prison sentence after swindling the pension scheme of Yateley Industries for the Disabled out of a quarter of a million pounds.
McLarry used the money to pay off personal debts, as well as on homes in France and Hampshire.
In his capacities as chief executive and chairman of the charity, and director of VerdePlanet Ltd, the corporate trustee, McLarry “tried every trick in the book to hide his actions and squander the pension pots of those he was responsible for,” said Nicola Parish, TPR executive director of frontline regulation, speaking after McLarry’s conviction.
A TPR investigation showed how VerdePlanet Ltd under McLarry’s directorship had amended the scheme definitive deed, rendering it unable to pursue him for the money he went on to take.
“But we were able to uncover the truth and bring him to justice,” Ms Parish said.
“We will now work to seize assets from McLarry so that as much of the money as possible is returned to its rightful owners who will rightly rely on it to deliver their pensions in retirement.”
Ruling in February, Judge Andrew Barnett said McLarry had acted with appalling dishonesty and breach of trust, adding he had “milked the pension fund of considerable funds, spent entirely for your own needs and your wife.”
McLarry faced a confiscation hearing on Friday brought by the regulator under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
