THE Ellesmere Port mastermind of a large scale magazine publishing scam – which left hundreds of small companies out of pocket – has been put behind bars for four-and-a-half years

Publican Mark Taylor had “ill gotten gains” of £356,000 over three years from his dodgy dealings which involved using two virtually identical companies – Global Media Corporation Ltd and Paramount Media – to sell advertising space to small businesses all over the country purportedly for emergency service magazines.

The claims made by his staff, often using aggressive bullying tactics, were largely bogus but not all the victims even realised they had been conned.

Those who did were very aggrieved and it was their angry complaints that led to police investigations.

Taylor, 52, who has since gone back to his trade as a publican, was told by Judge Rachel Smith that his situation was aggravated by his previous convictions, particularly his involvement in a “cash for crash” scam which also involved two employees.

James Rae, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court that Global Media was incorporated in December 2009 and was wound up in January 2014.

Taylor, of Hope Farm Road, Great Sutton, had been disqualified from being a company director in 2002 for 12 years after the High Court wound up a previous enterprise, Trinity Promotions Ltd.

Mr Rae said: “While there has been some legitimate printing on behalf of the English Police Golf Association, sales representatives claims to have been benefitting the Emergency Services have been largely bogus and it is quite clear that the sales figures that were used by the sales representatives were utterly specious.”

As part of the fraud, said Mr Rae, from 2012 invoices were being sent to customers who had not agreed to the orders being charged for and in most cases their sense of grievance followed the aggressive tactics employed to try to secure payment.

This led to a strong inference that the reps were paid on commission which afforded an incentive to drive sales at any cost.

Taylor was not prepared to talk about his businesses when he was interviewed, said Mr Rae.

The court heard Taylor had received a nine month suspended jail sentence in 2015 for his involvement in a “crash for case” scam in which he played “a major role in organising” a crash with a bus in October 2011.

He also has earlier convictions dating up to 1991 “all with a common thread of deception running through them,” said Mr Rae.

Taylor pleaded guilty to two fraud offences, acting as a company director while disqualified from being a director and making a false statutory declaration.

Andrew McInnes, defending, said the businesses had started legitimately and in 2009 and 2010 he had been making a good living and had a turnover of hundreds of thousands of pounds.

“But it was a house built on sand without foundation to see it continue into the future.”

After being approached by a Merseyside Police inspector to produce a police golfing magazine, other police forces all over the country got in touch to do magazines for them and while he had increased turnover he also had increased overheads.

“He was in control of a flourishing empire in 2010-11 and it was a successful and legitimate business but the problem was it began to unravel, there were too many mouths to feed and he lost control... and the operation became fraudulent,” said Mr McInnes.

He had been disqualified from being a company director “but accepts responsibility, he was the man at the helm.”

Mr McInnes said he “tried to bale it out when it was obviously failing”.

Alongside him in the dock was wife Kelie Taylor, of the same address, who admitted aiding and abetting him act in breach of his disqualification.

She was sentenced to a two year community order with 12 months supervision and 175 hours of unpaid work.

Mr McInnes said the couple had been married for 12 years and had a teenage daughter and he had two children from a previous marriage.

The court heard Taylor spent many years in the licensing trade and he returned as licensee at the Seahorse pub in Great Sutton.

“The local authority agrees he is the right person for the job.”

Mr McInnes said Taylor had health difficulties and there has been “an element of self-harm” because of the proceedings but he has been maintaining himself and his family including their 15-year-old daughter.

Detective sergeant Joanne Devers said after the court hearing: “Today’s sentencing shows that the courts do take the issue of fraud very seriously.

"Some of the people who were taken in by this fraud were small businesses who were just trying to make a living.

“They were contacted out of the blue and asked to take out advertisements to support emergency organisations and these organisations preyed on the fact that most people would be happy to pay to assist the emergency services.

"They were then given sub-standard examples of work or received no feedback when they asked questions about issues such as circulation figures.

"Some businesses were also sent invoices for work they hadn’t agreed to."