Disgraced former Leeds United director Simon Morris is facing fresh criminal charges relating to more than £1m of assets – including gold bullion – he is alleged to have hidden when he was made bankrupt.
The YEP can reveal Morris, 35, is facing prosecution under the Insolvency Act over cash and gold bars he allegedly hid in Swiss bank accounts when his multi-million pound property empire collapsed in 2009.
A summons has been handed to Morris’s solicitors from the Department of Business Innovation and Skill ordering him to appear before magistrates next month.
Details of the new charges emerged during a confiscation hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) relating to Morris’s conviction for blackmail.
Morris, formerly of Ling Lane, Scarcroft, was jailed in October 2011 after being found guilty of conspiracy to blackmail his former partner, estate agent Hedley Manton, out of £100,000.
Morris sent bodyguard Johnathon Ashworth to Mr Manton’s offices in Headingley in March 2009 and stab threats were made unless he parted with the six-figure sum.
Prosecutor Michael Jowett told Newcastle Crown Court all correspondence relating to the new charges had been sent to Morris’s solicitors as it was not known where he is currently living.
Morris’s barrister Alasdair Campbell said he had not yet met with his client, but added: “From what I have heard from Mr Morris, at this stage there may well be a trial.”
The POCA hearing was adjourned to await the outcome of the latest court proceedings against Morris.
Adjourning the case, judge Brian Forster QC said: “I wonder if the gold bars will be produced at court? We will wait and see.”
Former Leeds Grammar School pupil was released early from his 18 moth prison sentence in April last year
The trial, also at Newcastle Crown Court, heard Morris, facing a £3.5m bankruptcy petition following the collapse of his property empire, sent Ashworth, of Greater Manchester, to intimidate Mr Manton into repaying a disputed £100,000 loan. Mr Manton was said to be left “shaking and pale” after being visited three times by Ashworth, who weighed 21 stone, had a scarred face and biceps “the size of an average man’s thighs”.
As well as being convicted of conspiracy to blackmail, Ashworth pleaded guilty to possessing two offensive weapons - a CS spray canister and a knuckleduster - which were found in his car on the day he was arrested at Mr Manton’s office.
Police said the blackmail plot smacked “more of the criminal underworld than the world of legitimate business.”
By the father-of-four was 30, he was one of the UK’s wealthiest men with a fortune estimated at £69m, a family man on the Sunday Times Young Rich List who had been the youngest director of Leeds United football club.
Less than three years later he was declared bankrupt.
Details of his property companies’ spectacular collapse were revealed at his blackmail trial, where he blamed his predicament on the credit crunch and a downturn in the housing market.
As Morris’s business empire crumbled, he opened Swiss bank accounts which he failed to declare in what prosecutors believe was an attempt to hide money from administrators.
Attempts to hide assets were said to have been made both before and after Morris’s bankruptcy was declared.
Morris, formerly of Ling Lane, Scarcroft, was jailed in October 2011 after being found guilty of conspiracy to blackmail former partner, estate agent Hedley Manton, out of £100,000. A jury heard Morris sent bodyguard Johnathon Ashworth to Mr Manton’s offices in Headingley in March 2009 and stab threats were made unless he parted with the six-figure sum.
At a hearing at Newcastle Crown Court, prosecutor Michael Jowett said all correspondence relating to the new charges had been sent to Morris’s solicitors as it was not known where he is living. Morris’s barrister Alasdair Campbell said he had not yet met with his client, but added: “From what I have heard from Mr Morris, at this stage there may well be a trial.”
The POCA hearing was adjourned to await the outcome of the latest court proceedings against Morris. Adjourning the case, judge Brian Forster QC said: “I wonder if the gold bars will be produced at court? We will wait and see.”
Morris and Ashworth, of Greater Manchester, were jailed for 18 months after a trial at Newcastle Crown Court. The trial heard Morris, facing a £3.5m bankruptcy petition following the collapse of his property empire, sent Ashworth to intimidate Mr Manton into repaying a disputed £100,000 loan. Mr Manton was said to be left “shaking and pale” after being visited three times by Ashworth, who weighed 21 stone, had a scarred face and biceps “the size of an average man’s thighs”.