A well-known business man, who stole £800k from a hotel after it was destroyed by a fire, bragged he was "totally self made".
Simon Matthews-Williams, 62, was formerly a successful hotelier who owned sites such as Liverpool city centre's waterfront Crowne Plaza, the £15million Hotel Indigo and James Street's three-star Days Inn. But he was jailed on September 12 for 28 months after he was found to transfer nearly £800,000 out of the bank account of one of his former companies and never pay the huge sum back.
A trial at Liverpool Crown Court previously heard the "experienced company director" was a minor stakeholder in the Gateway to Wales Hotel, near to the A494 in Deeside, North Wales. By early 2019 though, Matthews-Williams "no longer had any role" in the business and "had long given up any financial interest or management in the hotel".
READ MORE: Officers wade through water in golf course hunt for weapons that killed Olivia
However, he still retained access to its banking facilities. And on five separate occasions, he made payments of just under £200,000 into another of his company's accounts before transferring the total of £794,779 onwards to himself and his family members "to pay bills that he was being pressed to pay".
Matthews-Williams was a well-known business man who had previously spoken to The ECHO about how he was "totally self-made" and used to work as a cocktail water. He claimed nobody had ever given a penny to him.
He said: "I am totally self-made. I have never had a penny given to me.
"I did part-time bar work while I was studying. That's when the love affair with hotels began.
"The big attraction is the excitement. No one day is similar to the next. You deal with people from all walks of life. It is not possible to be bored in this industry."
Ben Jones, prosecuting, described how "very successful Scandinavian businessman" Bjorn Parkander was the primary investor in the Gateway to Wales. Matthews-Williams' Sanguine Hospitality Limited "initially managed the day-to-day activities of the hotel", but this was taken over by an unconnected company called Black and White Hospitality Limited in 2015.
Barbara Holtaway had been employed by SHL to manage its payroll and accounting activities, and subsequently continued to do so for the Gateway to Wales as a temporary employee for Black and White. When she went on bereavement leave on February 15, 2019, Matthews-Williams was able to "misuse her access" to the hotel's bank accounts - making the first of his transfers only three days later, and continuing to do so into the following month.
Mr Jones said: "The only vague and ongoing link between the defendant and the Gateway to Wales Hotel was the fact that Mrs Holtaway continued to act as a temporary employee for Black and White by continuing to do the payroll, using the same electronic device to activate banking services. Because people running the companies were well known to each other and could - they thought - trust each other, there was no change in the banking arrangements.
"So, Mrs Holtaway and indeed the defendant could in theory still access the Gateway's bank account. The point here is that the defendant clearly knew that he shouldn’t, because he no longer had any business, financial or management role in the Gateway."
After a "devastating" fire at the hotel in December 2017 due to an electrical fault, Mr Parkander received a £2.1m insurance payout in January 2019. Matthews-Williams, of Vyner Road in Bidston, subsequently helped himself to more than a third of this sum.
He claimed this was due to an ongoing dispute with Downing Wealth Management (DWM), which had assisted in the management of Mr Parkander's investments. Matthews-Williams, who is also known as Richard Mathews-Williams, was involved in a joint venture with a firm - namely London City Shopping Limited - which "had absolutely nothing to do with Mr Parkander".
He and Downing had an equal 50/50 interest in the scheme, which involved attempts to develop a hotel in the capital. But the project failed, leaving Matthews-Williams "feeling that he was owed up to £1.6m" by DWM.
Mr Jones described how he felt "somehow entitled to take the money" from Gateway because Downing managed the hotel on behalf of Mr Parkander. He then made the bank transfers "in order to put pressure on them to settle the separate financial dispute and to ensure that he had the means to pay any lawyers that might be needed to oppose Downing".
Mr Jones added: "He took advantage of the lax security on the account and the fact that he was not removed from the list of people being able to access the hotel’s account when his own company stopped managing the hotel. The fact that he carried out the fraud when Mrs Holtaway was on leave is telling.
"He knew that she had access to the bank account and the device needed to access the bank account. The route that the money then took is equally telling, going to pay off debts and into personal accounts linked to himself.
"We suggest the defendant had no intention of paying back anyone. He did not in fact pay anyone back and only made this suggestion when the fraud was discovered."
In a statement which was read to court, Mr Parkander described how he "feels very stupid, having blindly put faith" in Matthews-Williams. He added that he "felt a significant amount of betrayal".
Matthews-Williams - who has no previous convictions - was imprisoned after being found guilty of five counts of theft by a jury. He was also banned from acting as a company director for seven years and told to pay a victim surcharge.
Sentencing, the judge said: "You are of previous good character. This is not merely an absence of previous convictions, but positive good character.
"Your businesses have created employment for others, you have done charity work and you are a solid and caring family man. You have reached the age of 62 with that reputation before the jury took it away."
Matthews-Williams could now be ordered to repay his ill-gotten gains under the Proceeds of Crime Act. He will be brought back before the same court next year.
READ NEXT
Man admits killing 14-year-old girl in St Helens car crash
Heartbreak as 'much loved' primary school headteacher dies after short illness
Plane flipped during crash landing after engine 'lost power'
Woman in her 20s still fighting for life more than a week after nightclub fall
