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Town Hall Fraud Inquiry: repairs firm boss charged
MD of company that lost contract due to appear in court in July
DETECTIVES investigating an alleged £200,000 fraud connected to the Town Hall’s housing department have arrested the managing director of a former repairs contractor.
Kevin Childs, a senior figure at repairs company Spring Grove, has been charged with conspiracy to steal public money from Camden Council.
He is due to appear at Snaresbrook Crown Court next month.
Two other men, John Cullen – also a Spring Grove employee – and Robert Allum, a former council staffer, have been charged with the same offence and are due to appear alongside Mr Childs.
All three appeared in court last month but pleas on the charges were deferred until July 29.
Camden Council confirmed through a press official on Friday that the case was ongoing.
It is understood the alleged offences were committed between August 2004 and early July last year.
Spring Grove, which claims to complete 8,000 repairs every month, no longer has a Town Hall contract. Its deal to repair homes in Hampstead expired in March and was not renewed amid arguments over company performance.
The company is one of the largest repairs contractors used by local authorities, with an annual turnover running beyond £18 million. It changed hands last November for £56 million when parent company Mount Street Holdings sold it on to property services firm Erinaceous.
In relation to Spring Grove’s performance in Hampstead, housing director Neil Litherland said in a council report discussed by councillors in September last year: “There are a number of issues concerning the overall performance and approach provided by the contractor and it is not considered to be in the council’s best interest either in financial or operational terms to extend the contract.”
John Harrison, chairman of Spring Grove Property Maintenance, said that Mr Childs had not been suspended from his position and that the company had full confidence in him.
In an article in trade magazine Property Week, he said: “Kevin Childs is a trusted and dependable employee who insists he is innocent of the charge against him. He will vigorously defend his position and I have every confidence that he will clear his name if the case against him comes to court.
“Mr Childs has not been suspended. He retains my complete confidence and I fully expect him to be exonerated in due course. |
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