Sunderland husband and wife charged in connection with £2m alleged company fraud
A Sunderland husband and wife have appeared in court charged in connection with a suspected £2m fraud which is said to have been committed over a period of more than a decade.
Lynn Tate, 55, is alleged to have used her position as accounts manager with city company Excelsior Services Holdings to syphon off £2,108,091 for herself.
She faces a single charge of fraud by abuse of position in Sunderland between January 1, 2014, and April 30, 2025.
David Tate, 56, is accused of concealing, disguising, converting, transferring or removing criminal property to the value of £274,841 between the same dates.
He is alleged to have moved the money out of an account to be used for goods and services.
The charges were not read to the defendants, who are both of Druridge Avenue, in Seaburn, Sunderland, when they made their first appearance in connection with the case at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court earlier this month and no pleas were made.
Chris Wilson, defending Lynn Tate, and Paul McAlindon, who is representing David Tate, told magistrates they had not been served with sufficient evidence by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
The solicitors said this meant they were unable to adequately advise their clients and requested the case be adjourned so they could be served the full prosecution case.
Mr Wilson described the lack of detail as “woefully inadequate” and said the CPS had had a year to prepare.
Mr McAlindon confirmed he was unable to offer his client “proper advice” at this stage, adding: “I use this phrase guardedly, but it’s a disgrace.”
Magistrates agreed to adjourn the case to Tuesday, January 5, for evidence to be served and granted the defendants unconditional bail.
Kenneth Wilson, chair of the bench, told them: “It’s clear from both of your solicitors that the crown has not done what they were supposed to have done.
“The evidence and the information has not been produced. It’s an unfortunate situation but we can’t do anything about it.
“I can only apologise to both about the situation. In the interests of justice, that’s all we can do.”