CHARGE OF FRAUD
SHIP REPAIR WORK IN BRITAIN
(Rec. 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, Feb. 2
It was alleged in a Liverpool court that £500,000 had been wrongfully obtained from the Government since the outbreak of war by means of fraud.
Maud Tester, single, secretary of F. H. Porter, Limited, ship sealers, was remanded till February 13. She was charged with having stolen £5000 from Porter, Limited, and with having conspired with Councillor Charles Rowland Clare and others unknown to obtain, money by false pretences from Grayson Rollo and Clover Docks, Limited, between September, 1939, and December, 1941.
The prosecutor said that Porter, Limited, had sub-contracts with the Admiralty, the Ministiy of Shipping, and shipping companies for repair work on ships. . ■ MANY BOYS EMPLOYED; - The company employed substantial numbers ofl boys and the authorities were charged men's wages for boys' work on ships.
When it became known that an investigation was in progress 900 men disappeared from the company's books. The prosecutor said that Maud Tester was alleged to have stated that fictitious wages sheets were made up weekly for men not employed by the company. Frederick William Porter, head of the firm, shot himself in! the head and died in hospital. The Coroner found that he committed suicide while mentally disturbed by business worries.
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Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 28, 3 February 1942, Page 6
Word Count
213CHARGE OF FRAUD Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 28, 3 February 1942, Page 6
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