Conman who changed his name and lied on CV to obtain senior jobs jailed

A career conman described as a "serious danger to honest people" has been jailed for more than eight years.

Simon Squires, 49, from Cambridgeshire, went by aliases including Simon Ball and Simon Brown in an attempt to hide his criminal record and evade justice.

He regularly changed his name by deed poll and falsified his CV in order to con companies out of hundreds of thousands of pounds

Squires was first jailed in 2013, then again in 2017.

Upon his release from jail, Squires continued offending. Between 2018 and 2020 he used a CV containing falsified and untrue information to obtain senior jobs at two different companies.

An investigation was launched by Cambridgeshire Constabulary and Squires was arrested and charged with fraud offences, before being released on bail.

This wasn’t enough to deter him, though, and he adopted another identity - Matthew Ball - and gained employment as a Chief Commercial Director at a personal care product company in Norfolk, before moving on to a technology company in Oxford.

Once in post, he would use his position to reward himself financially while causing substantial losses to the businesses. In total he claimed around £110,000 from the companies.

Read more: The WhatsApp 'mum and dad scam' explained as police issue warning

Read More: Female shop worker, 25, groomed teenage girl and had sex with her

In February 2022 Squires was arrested and subsequently pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud by false representation, four counts of money laundering, and 10 breaches of a Serious Crime Prevention Order which he received following his 2017 conviction.

He was jailed for eight years and nine months at Cambridge Crown Court on Monday and a Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) investigation has now been launched, to ensure he does not profit from any of his actions.

Passing sentence, the judge described Squires as: "A serious danger to honest business people.”

Around £30,000 in his bank account has been frozen and a number of watches believed to be worth more than £100,000 have been seized, while financial investigations take place.

Investigating officer PC Kane Casburn said: “Squires made a career out of defrauding businesses out of hundreds of thousands of pounds, lying and cheating his way into senior positions.

“He clearly thought he was above the law and continued to deceive company after company, even while on court bail for other fraud offences.

“Unfortunately for him, he was unable to outrun the law and his actions have now caught up with him. I hope that this jail sentence is enough to make him think twice about any future convincing scams, and our financial investigators will be working hard to ensure that his assets are uncovered so that he fully repays all of his ill-gotten gains."