Martin Evans QC secures confiscation orders of over £10m for CPS on Operation Hornet

Lynden Scourfield was a director of HBoS’s impaired assets division based in Reading.  This division of the bank provided strategic advice and assistance to corporate customers who were experiencing financial distress. Between 2003 – 2007 he was corrupted by David Mills and Michael Bancroft. They operated Quayside Corporate Services Ltd [QCS], a company that was regularly appointed by Scourfield to act as a turnaround consultant to the bank’s business customers as a condition for further financial support. In fact, QCS was dishonestly used by Mills and Bancroft to extract exhorbitant fees and to operate those businesses simply to appropriate funds loaned (on Scourfield’s approval) by the bank.

Scourfield approved huge loans to the businesses well past the point when it would have been obvious to any honest banker that the debt could and would never be re-paid.  The result of the corrupt arrangement was the Bank incurred losses in the order of £245m in respect of customer lending managed by Scourfield which ultimately had to be written off.

Alison Mills (wife of David) was convicted of money laundering.

The defendants were convicted after a trial in 2017.  Confiscation orders were made by HHJ Beddoe at Southwark Crown Court on 12th and 16th September 2019 as follows:

Benefit obtained Order made

David Mills £57,923,899 £5,649,940

Michael Bancroft £2,331,764.35 £727,390.72

Alison Mills £11,531,768 £4,802,009

In each case, the order was in the amount of the available assets.

Martin Evans QC was instructed in the restraint and confiscation proceedings. 

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