Ex-Norton CEO, Stuart Garner Sentenced

[advrider]

Ex-Norton CEO Stuart Garner has been sentenced.  Garner pleaded guilty to three charges of breaching pension regulations after illegally investing approximately £11,000,000 of people’s pensions into Norton Motorcycles.

Judge Nirmal Shant QC handed down an eight-month prison term but suspended it for two years.  The suspended sentence means that he will not go to prison unless Garner commits another offense within two years.

In handing down the sentence, Shant told Garner:

“This is not just financial harm.”

“I have read statement after statement of the trauma you have done to the lives of ordinary people who thought they were investing in their future.”

“Many of them spoke of broken relationships, profound ill health, and having to face the misery of having to work much longer than they planned because of the financial damage you have done.”

In addition to the suspended prison term, Shant ordered Garner to pay £20,716.69 in costs.  However, the amount may go unpaid as Garner declared bankruptcy in May 2021.

Unfortunately, the sentencing handed down will likely do little good for the people affected by Garner’s crimes.   In June 2020, the Pension Ombudsman ordered Garner to pay back millions of pounds owed to pension holders.

According to BBC News, 227 investors got caught up in Garner’s pension scheme.  As of January 2020, the affected people were still owed £10,000,000.

Norton’s new facility that is now under TVS ownership.  Photo credit: Norton Motorcycles

People affected

One of those people was Robert Dewar. Mr. Dewar transferred £120,000 (~ $158,000) to Garner’s pension scheme and ultimately lost all of it. While the money was in Garner’s scheme, Mr. Dewar was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and later died without getting his money back.

His daughter, Sally Holmes, told the BBC she’d been trying for three years before her father’s death to release her father’s pension money, but to no avail.

“I just don’t know how [Garner] can live with himself.  

“Because it’s not just us. How can he have done that to so many vulnerable people, who trusted him, had faith in him, believed in him?”

To make ends meet, Mr. Dewar’s wife was forced to take over his work as a self-employed commercial property agent while trying to care for her husband.

 “His condition was deteriorating to the point where in the end he was only able to move his arms, hands even.  He needed help eating, drinking, washing, dressing.”

After Mr. Dewar passed away, his pension money was still not returned.  The BBC quotes Mrs. Dewar as saying:

“I even sent him [Stuart Garner] an email saying ‘He has died now, it’s too late for us, this is the condition that he died in.  All we wanted was to be able to look after him.  He never responded.”

William Hays, representing the Pensions Regulator that prosecuted Garner, offered more about some of Garner’s victims.  He said that the loss of the pension funds had caused considerable hardship for those who have been unable to withdraw it.

He said that some people had been unable to pay their mortgages and were forced to continue working for longer than they planned.  Others had suffered psychological difficulties, marriage difficulties, stress, sleeping problems, and a loss of trust and self-doubt.

Garner a victim?

To some, comments from Garner’s barrister, Peter Caldwell, may appear to try to make Garner a victim.  According to the BBC,  Caldwell said Garner had “fallen from grace and suffered serious mental health crises due to what happened.”

“He has been on medication.”

“He is, in his own words, ‘trying to deal with it’.  There are acute episodes where he needs help.”

Interestingly, Caldwell claims that Garner did not know he was doing wrong, and supposedly his claim was accepted by the prosecution.

“This was not a position where he knew of the restriction and nonetheless went and did what he did.  He didn’t.”

Caldwell also said that Garner is remorseful for his actions:

“Your honour should understand he sincerely does convey his remorse to you and to others.

And Caldwell said that Garner had personally made payments of £30,000 to pension scheme members before declaring bankruptcy.

Victims victimized again?

While Garner did plead guilty, he only received a suspended sentence.  He’ll be free to go about his daily life with no repercussions to his freedom.  So, are his victims receiving justice, or are they being victimized once again?  Considering Garner’s bankruptcy, it’s not clear whether he will be required or able to pay back his victims in full or even make partial payments to them.

Some, like Mr. Dewar, will never receive justice now that he has passed away.  Perhaps his family may receive some compensation in the future, but it’s of little value to the man who lived out his last years, unable to access the money that could have made his dying years more comfortable for him and his family.

 

 

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