‘Intrinsically dishonest’ director ran firms while bankrupt and forged papers

A crooked company director who operated electrical contracting firms while bankrupt and forged documents has been jailed for four years, nine months.

Roy Harold Goss, 67, of Cambridge, was convicted of 18 charges, including offences relating to the management of companies in Swansea and Croydon. He was disqualified from acting as a director or in the management of a company for 10 years.

Goss’ firms ran up unpaid debts of £3m. In passing sentence, Judge Kenneth MacRae said Goss was “intrinsically dishonest” and “a menace to the commercial and business community”.

Business minister Pat McFadden said: “When someone acts in this way they are effectively stealing from honest businesses who are owed money and can suffer as a result. This prosecution sends a clear message to would-be fraudsters that they won’t get away with it.”

Goss breached his bankruptcy restrictions with eight companies between 2000 and 2006; five electrical contracting firms in Swansea and three air conditioning businesses in Croydon.