An accountant trustee who fraudulently took over £290,000 from a company pension scheme has been sentenced to three years in prison.

Roger William Bessent, 66, was a trustee and administrator for the Focusplay Retirement Benefit Scheme, was found guilty of transferring members’ savings into new and struggling businesses he part owned.

The businesses were run by himself, his family and a client, and he now faces further court action to make him repay the cash he fraudulently took.

Judge Nicholas Barker sentenced Bessent to 44 months in prison today (29 March) at Preston Crown Court, saying that his “selfish and greedy acts” had purposefully targeted “ordinary hard-working people” who had placed their trust in the defendant to invest their retirement funds.

Barker continued: “The system relies on trust. It’s that trust you breached. You used their money as your own.

“You knew what you were doing was dishonest and wrong.”

This case was the first time The Pensions Regulator (TPR) had launched a fraud and employer-related investments (ERI) prosecution against an accountant, and the first time a prosecution by TPR had led to an immediate custodial sentence.

Bessent had pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud, two counts of making prohibited ERIs and acting as a director while disqualified.

Minister for Pensions and Financial Inclusion, Guy Opperman commented: “Fraudsters who abuse positions of trust to line their own pockets with other people’s hard-earned savings will feel the full force of the law. I welcome the sentence handed down by the courts today, and the regulator’s action in bringing this prosecution.

“We’re determined to protect everyone’s pensions which is why we’re introducing a new offence of wilful or reckless behaviour relating to a pension scheme, punishable by up to seven years in jail or unlimited fines.”

Bessent has been sentenced to serve 35 months for the fraud offenses, four months for the ERI offenses and give months for the director disqualification offences.

TPR initially launched its prosecution in December 2018.

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