Accountant's sentence for false hotel purchase cut

AN accountant who was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment for obtaining a £650,000 mortgage to buy a hotel by deception, has had his sentence reduced to 12 months by the Court of Appeal.

John Jones, 53, of Spindle Croft, Farnworth, Bolton, obtained the mortgage along with co-defendant Paul Barrett, 45, of The Woodlands, Bolton, to buy a hotel in Cumbria.

Jones owned an accountancy practice called Higson's which had accumulated debts.

The mortgage required a deposit of £120,000, which the men had when they applied for the mortgage but did not by the time it was completed.

The shortfall was made up by a loan from the vendor but they failed to declare this to the mortgage company.

Jones pleaded guilty at Manchester Crown Court on 6 June. Barrett received eight months' imprisonment, but his sentence was not cut on appeal.