November 10, 2017

Robert Smedley

Deputy vice chancellor and his lover jailed for £500,000 fraud

The former pro vice chancellor of Edge Hill university and his partner have been sentenced to five years each in prison for defrauding the institution of £500,000.

Robert Smedley, who was dean of the faculty of education at the university in West Lancashire, created the £53,000 salaried post of Partnership Development Officer for Christopher Joynson without disclosing they were in a relationship.

Over a five-year period between 2009 and 2014, 52-year-old Smedley also authorised invoices for education consultancy work which Joynson, 34, did not carry out. Police said that Joynson had transferred around £200,000 of fraudulent earnings into Smedley’s bank account during that period.

The fraud was uncovered when a university finance officer spotted large payments going into a firm set up by Joynson in his father’s name. Smedley resigned after being confronted about the findings in 2014.

Following a six-week trial at Liverpool Crown Court, which ended earlier this month, a jury found Smedley guilty of five offences of fraud by abuse of position and Joynson of four offences of fraud by false representation.

The pair told the court they were just friends, but police searches found them to be living together in Smedley’s house, and Valentines Day cards were sent between the pair.

Detective Constable David Wainwright, from Lancashire Constabulary’s economic crime unit, said that Smedley had "abused [his] position for personal gain”.

"He deceived the university, in particular colleagues he had known for many years and employed Joynson, his lover, in a position that he had simply devised himself,” he said.

"The financial impact on the university – the innocent victim in all this – cannot be underestimated; between the pair of them, they managed to defraud Edge Hill of over half a million pounds which could have been put to much better use.”

Judge Brian Cummings QC told the pair that he was sentencing them on the basis that the fraudulent activity was "both jointly conceived and jointly perpetrated”, although there were distinctions in the roles they played.

"I bear very much in mind that this will be a first custodial sentence for each of you and that for you in particular Robert Smedley it is accompanied by the complete destruction of your professional reputation – albeit that is entirely self-inflicted,” he said.

The court heard that Edge Hill university’s in-house solicitor had spent the majority of the last 15 months dealing with the case and that a temporary assistant had to be taken on to help. More than 33 members of staff were interviewed as part of the police investigation and 25 of them gave evidence in court.

After the fraud came to light, the university was paid £450,000 through insurance. "The sum fraudulently obtained by these men had no impact on our students or the work of the university and has subsequently been recovered from our insurers,” a spokesperson for the university said.

"Edge Hill University notes the decision of the jury and believes that the sentences handed down to Robert Smedley and Christopher Joynson demonstrate that justice has been done,” they added. "We would like to thank the police and Crown Prosecution Service for their efforts in pursuing this case and bringing it to a satisfactory conclusion.”

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