A BUSINESSMAN who “incompetently and stupidly” continued as the director of five companies for years after disqualification, coinciding with tens of thousands of pounds of losses, has avoided an immediate jail term.

Peter John Lashmar, 70, of West Way, Lymington, pleaded guilty to five counts of breaching a disqualification by continuing to work as a director and one count of recklessly delivering a false, misleading or deceptive document.

He appeared at Bournemouth Crown Court for sentencing.

Prosecuting, Edward Franklin told the court Lashmar was disqualified from being a director when his company Lashmar UK Ltd was liquidated in 2012, owing “£211,000 to HMRC”.

The order took affect from 2015 and would last for seven years.

In 2015, however, a company called Lentune Tax Accountants was wound up. Liquidators began running the company and found it was being directed by the defendant.

Lashmar also worked for Lashmar Personal Tax LLP, Lashmar Tax Accountants, Lashmar Tax Accountants and Incorporate Companies Secretaries and IC Nominee 66, all between 2015 and 2017.

Mr Franklin said the defendant told HMRC his 24-year-old godson, who lived in South Africa, was the director of Lentune Tax Accountants.

He said: “The prosecution suggests the defendant was in fact managing that company.

“At Lashmar Tax Accountants Ltd there was another sham director.”

Mr Franklin said Lashmar appointed a Wendy Page as director and employees were told to say she was not there if asked.

Lashmar told HMRC there were no directors, after an investigation it was found he was running the company and he was charged with delivering a false, misleading or deceptive document.

Mr Franklin said he was of high culpability and the offences were “motivated by personal gain”.

Mitigating, Berenice Mulvanny said Lashmar’s wife would take care of the businesses until she died in 2012.

She said: “She was very much in charge of the administration of those businesses.

“That was a slippery slope he has never been able to claw himself back from. He is now a very lonely 70-year-old.”

Ms Mulvanny said he did not run the business fraudulently, and carried on as director rather than starting at a company after the disqualification.

Judge Stephen Climie sentenced Lashmar to 16 months imprisonment for working while disqualified and 12 months for the deceptive document, to run concurrently. His disqualification was extended by 15 years.

He suspended the sentence for 12 months, ordered Lashmar pay £5,000 in costs to the prosecution and have a curfew from 5pm until 9am, monitored by an electronic tag.

Judge Climie said: “The passing away of your wife left a hole in your life and your business ventures, one that I am satisfied you never properly filled.

“You were incapable and incompetent to manage that loss. The result was a near inevitable investigation into your working practices. You sought to deceive the authorities as to what you were doing.

“I will impose a curfew with the sentence, you now have the indignity of being tagged.

“You will be disqualified as a director for, having regard to your infirmity, the rest of your life. Don’t be tempted because it will guarantee you go to prison.”

Chief Investigator at the insolvency service, Ian West said: “Peter Lashmar knowingly breached his disqualification order which prevented him from acting as a director or managing a company. And not only did he provide a false name to Companies House as a director of a limited company, but he refused to co-operate or attend interviews by investigators.

“The 16-month sentence handed down by the judge, suspended for two years, should send a strong signal that rogue directors who think they can continue to flout the rules even after being disqualified, will face prosecution and the full force of the law.”

Lashmar's dealings had nothing to do with Lentune Mortgage Consultancy Ltd, an unrelated company set up in 2008 before the defendant used the Lentune name.