Sheffield man got £50,000 Covid loan despite not being eligible - and blew it all in four weeks

A Sheffield man has been sentenced after he took out a £50,000 Covid recovery loan for a business he had made up.

In July 2020, James Todd applied for and received a £50,000 'Bounce Back' loan for a business called Pro Detailing. He claimed the business had a turnover of £255,000 so he was eligible for for the maximum amount of the loan.

However, there is no evidence Pro Detailing ever traded at all. Todd received the money in mid-July and had spent all but £245 of it on personal purchases by the end of the month.

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The 37-year-old used some of the money to replace his car. Now, Todd has been sentenced to 18 months in prison suspended for two years for fraud at Sheffield Crown Court on Monday, May 20.

He has also been ordered to complete 240 hours of unpaid work and to pay compensation of £2,000 at the rate of £100 a month.

David Snasdell, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: "James Todd invented the turnover for an entirely fictitious business that was not trading when the pandemic began as he was in full-time employment.

"Todd then used the loan entirely for personal purposes, upgrading his car and selling his previous vehicle within just a few weeks.

"This was taxpayers’ money and the Insolvency Service will not hesitate to take action against those who have so flagrantly stolen from the public purse."

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This follows an investigation by the Insolvency Service who found that Pro Detailing was not trading and that Todd, of Milnrow View in Sheffield, was in full-time employment at the start of the pandemic and when he made his loan application. They found that Todd had transferred £32,500 of the funds to his own personal account within six days of receiving the loan.

He withdrew £1,250 and transferred £16,500 to associates over the same period. Analysis of Todd's bank account found he made two payments, totalling £11,929, to a car finance company for his BMW and he sold his old car for £5,220 in early August.

Todd accepted a ten-year Bankruptcy Restrictions Undertaking in June 2022, which restricted him from being able to borrow more than £500 without disclosing his bankrupt status. This also means he cannot act as a company director without permission from a court.