UK Edition
Bankrupt fraudster who pretended to live in a shed and owned £83,000 of art and antiques is jailed
A bankrupt fraudster pretended he was living in a shed with only £300 pounds of furniture while disguising his manor - and £83,000 art and antique collection - in green cladding.
When Alan Yeomans, 61, of Yeaveley, Derbyshire, declared himself bankrupt he told officials he lived in a shed and all he owned was £300 of furniture and a £30 watch, Derby Crown Court heard.
He, in fact, wore a £10,000 Rolex and lived in a six-bedroom converted barn filled with antiques and oil paintings worth around £83,000.
Designer shoes and cannabis plants were also found at the Shedley Manor property, the latter concealed in a secret room behind an oil painting of Elizabethan statesman Robert Cecil.
Mr Yeomans illegally ran three companies as a front to launder £2.2 million from proceeds of growing and dealing cannabis.
On Friday, he was sentenced to six and a half years in jail for offences relating to money laundering, the production and supply of cannabis, stealing up to £4,000 in electricity, concealing criminal property, acting as a disqualified director and failing to disclose assets.
Mr Yeomans built his £1.2 million Derbyshire hideout in his mother’s back garden in 2002, the court heard.
With no planning permission, the house was concealed in green cladding despite a sign on the gate reading Shedley Manor.
Judge Nirmal Shant said Yeomans was "a liar, a money launderer and someone involved in the production of drugs".
Glenn Wicks, who led the investigation, said it was a “very intricate, sophisticated set-up".
"He is a fraudster, a liar and a drugs dealer who very cynically made himself bankrupt and then continued to act unlawfully on the management of three companies.
"What surprised me when I went into Shedley Manor was that someone built a six-bedroom manor house in the Peak District and filled it with fine art and antiques and the authorities didn't know anything about it.”
Sergeant Jon Lowes, of Derbyshire Police, said: “When we raided the property, we were amazed to find it was filled with antiques, oil paintings and valuable jewellery.
“Behind an oil painting was a secret door that hinged away from the wall to reveal a secret room, planned and built by Alan Yeomans, which had been used to grow cannabis and there was a separate room which revealed a very professional and sophisticated cannabis production line.
“He powered all of this by abstracting electricity from a source near his house in a very crude fashion, which was exceptionally dangerous and could very well have killed him.
“Faced with the evidence we gathered during the operation, Alan Yeomans had no choice but to plead guilty to this wide variety of offences."