A husband and wife team of estate agents with criminal convictions for insider dealing appear to have won another round in their battle to stay in business.
It is understood that regulator the National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team, at Powys County Council, has now said it will not be appealing against an earlier court decision.
This gave Christian and Angie Littlewood the right to have a hearing in person with an adjudicator. The couple had appealed following the regulator’s decision to ban them from the industry.
The High Court judge described Powys’s system as “unlawful” in the way it dealt with appeals – by looking at evidence, rather than at live hearings.
The case also highlighted concerns over Powys’s case load.
The Littlewoods were found guilty of insider trading in 2010.
Christian Littlewood, who earned £1.5m a year as an investment banker with Dresdner Kleinwort, and his wife Angie, had used cash from their illegal trades to buy a string of properties.
Littlewood was jailed for three years and four months while his wife was given a one-year suspended sentence.
They have since set up as estate agents, but Powys attempted to ban them from the industry on the grounds that they were not fit and proper people.
According to a report in the local Welsh press, the costs in the case to Powys will be between £90,000 and £100,000.
While the Littlewoods run a business classified as an estate agency, it is understood that this does not deal in lettings and that the Littlewoods are emphasising that it does not handle money. The business is signed up to a redress scheme, as is legally required.
This is how we earlier reported the case
Comments (6)
This is a difficult decision. On the one hand a convicted criminal having served a prison sentence is entitled to a fresh start with a clean slate.
On the other hand the public is entitled to rely on regulators to police the industry to protect the public from impropriety.
A job is something few can do without and is an essential part of reintegration into society. But is a job in Estate Agency the solution. If client money is an issue, then probably not for a probationary period – but how long might that be? Since the couple are not handling client monies then the need for caution is diminished. Perhaps such a time barred restriction would be the kindest solution? If the motive for expulsion is punitive, having already been punished that would constitute an extended sentence and that would bewrong in my mind. However, if the motive is protection of the public then that is right. If there is no money to protect then I question the motive? Is there a balance? Is no one entitled to be allowed to reform? I fear that not many would be able to “cast the first stone”.
Well said agent Orange
I personally do not want his likes in the industry but at present there are no laws forbidding it. Dangerous to just exclude people you do not like without a rule book. Where does it end?
Maybe a change in the law is needed to prevent ‘undesirables’ entering our profession.
sorry Danny, cant agree. he should carry the “financial bell” round his neck. Doing the time is your punishment, it does not absolve you nor does it guarantee that you are a better person.. This guy was in a position of trust and abused it to fleece people. We are now talking about him going back into a position of trust where can very easily fleece people. Are you that sure that a couple of years in low security confinement has changed his nature??
Let me ask you, if a released criminal who was convicted of violent assault moved in to the house next door to you, would you have the same live and let live attitude and invite him in for coffee and to meet the wife?
Surely the idea is once you’ve served your sentance that’s it … Maybe he should carry a bell and shout unclean when he walks down the street
Good luck to the Littlewoods………once again we see unelected bureaucrats spending tax payers money on spurious court cases with no financial consequences for the decisions they make…..after all we still have convicted criminals “advising us” in the House of Lords !! You couldn’t make it up !