Allan Wood also treated himself to Champions League final tickets at the expense of Cammell Laird while working as the shipbuilder’s finance director
Allan Wood, of Saltersgate in Ellsemere Port, aged 59(Image: Merseyside Police)
The finance director of Cammell Laird stole nearly £2million from the company when his “predilection for gambling got out of hand”. Allan Wood swindled his employer out of the staggering sum of money over the course of more than a decade.
This also saw him bill the company for tickets to the Champions League final and season tickets, later concocting a bizarre excuse that his fraudulent activities had related to suspect spying within the firm. However, his wife was ultimately left in tears as he was handed a lengthy spell behind bars today.
Liverpool Crown Court heard on Wednesday that Wood “effectively stole nearly £1.9million” from the business over the course of 12-and-a-half years between 2007 and 2020. The 59-year-old, of Saltersgate in Ellesmere Port, had first joined the Birkenhead-based shipbuilder in 2006 before being promoted to finance director in 2008, receiving an annual salary of between £40,000 and £61,000.
Jonathan Rogers, prosecuting, told the court: “The defendant had responsibility for the day-to-day management and control of Cammell Laird’s accounts and finances. He had overall responsibility for the department. As director, he was at the top of the finance chain, given the trust and authority to make decisions of a financial capacity.
“The defendant was in the position to challenge, change or set the culture and approach in respect of the company’s finances. Instead, he abused his position and stole nearly £2million from his employer over a period of 12-and-a-half years.”
Mr Rogers described how discrepancies were first reported to Cammell Laird by Barclays in 2018 due to “unusual activities on its business accounts”, relating to payments which had been made directly to Wood’s credit card over the preceding decade. These were said to have been backdated to previous years, allowing them to be “hidden among a large number of other payments”.
These deposits amounted to £650,000 in total, with “some of that money being spent on gambling”. When Wood was called into a meeting with the managing director in order to explain the findings, he “lied and said he was reimbursing himself for corporate hospitality which he had paid for”.
With his “explanation being accepted” at this stage, he was allowed to continue working in the same role. However, his “dishonesty and abuse of position continued” until he left the company in 2020, at which stage he was given a £100,000 pay off for his “long standing relationship” with the business.
It was only in 2021 that Cammell Laird identified further “suspicious corporate hospitality payments” to the defendant between April 2019 and March 2020, totalling more than £200,000 . This included tickets to the Champions League final and season tickets for an unspecified football club.
When contacted by his now former employer, Wood claimed that these payments had been “approved as valid corporate hospitality” in spite of Cammell Laird having been “struggling financially at the time”. When asked to provide documentation in order to support his account, he went on to state that the payments in fact “related to a covert investigation in relation to spying concerns” and “checking for bugs”.
Having been spoken to by representatives of Cammell Laird on a further occasion as “evidence against him was mounting”, Wood admitted making payments to his personal accounts over the previous six to seven years, equating to between £20,000 and £40,000 per annum and “posting the transactions in previous years to hide what he was doing”. However, Mr Rogers added: “In fact, Cammell Laird, and then the police, identified that the scale of the defendant’s deception and dishonesty was much greater, with the amount stolen approaching £2million.”
Allan Wood outside Liverpool Crown Court(Image: Liverpool Echo)
Wood has no previous convictions. Gareth Roberts, defending, said on his behalf: “Allan Wood comes before you profoundly embarrassed and ashamed for the way that he has behaved. He knows that he has committed a very serious crime. He knows that he will be going into custody today for a lengthy sentence of imprisonment.
“That prison sentence will stand alongside the shame that he feels for letting his family and friends down, and also people who placed their trust in him to look after financial health of a significant company. He realises that his actions could have resulted in the destruction of a great company and dire consequences for many people and their families who relied upon that company for work.
“By way of background, he is essentially a working class man who did very well for himself. He obtained qualifications in accountancy and worked hard to receive a senior position of trust in Cammell Laird.
“His downfall is, very sadly, that his attempt at the time was to live a life well beyond his means and a predilection for gambling which he accepts got out of hand. He accepts that it is no excuse, but it is perhaps a reason why this intelligent, well thought of and personable man found himself engaged in this criminality.
“He is now in poor health. Mental health problems have dogged him for many years, and he is also suffering physically. Prison will be a challenging experience for him.
“His wife and daughters will stand by him. He is no longer gambling. He has not gambled for some time. He has addressed a mental health issue which has perhaps lay untreated and dormant in his personality for some decades and perhaps contributed to his failure to address some of his issues when they became acute in recent years.
Allan and Fiona Wood outside Liverpool Crown Court(Image: Liverpool Echo)
“Although he cannot get away from the fact that this was ongoing criminality for some years, he has also involved himself in good works, including charitable works, and has been a very good father to his three daughters. This is a man who has erred in a spectacular way. All he wants now is to take his punishment, rehabilitate himself, maintain his health as best as he can and return to his family and continue to live as a good father.”
Wood pleaded guilty to a total of four counts of fraud. Appearing in the dock in a wheelchair and wearing a green fleece and glasses, he was jailed for five years and three months.
Sentencing, Judge Simon Medland KC said: “You come to this court with no previous convictions. That is of limited assistance for you. It was that very characteristic which enabled you to be employed as finance director at Cammell Laird.
“On your shoulders lay the responsibility of ensuring financial probity in the company. Yet you abused that position of very high trust to thieve from your company. That is what you did for almost 13 years. You stole about £1.9million from your employer.
“For over 120 years, Cammell Laird has been one of the industrial landmarks of this area, sustaining vital jobs and creating an economic lifeline in Birkenhead, up and down the Wirral and in this city. Your actions had a significant impact on the company, your colleagues, the shareholders and the supply chain which a company of this nature supports.
“Much of this money enabled you to lead a lifestyle, even as well paid as you were, which was one well beyond your means, in part because you were a habitual gambler. Although your previous lack of convictions does not really assist in this case, your personal mitigation is strong.
“I have no doubt that you are a very low risk of reoffending. I accept entirely that you are a good father, and good people speak well of you. Regrettably, now, you are not in good health.”
Wood’s wife, 60-year-old Fiona Wood, was previously charged with possession of criminal property in relation to her husband. This accused her of holding criminal property in the sum of £904,528.56 in the couple’s HSBC bank account between December 2007 and November 2023.
However, the prosecution ultimately offered no evidence on the single count, with a formal verdict of not guilty being recorded as a result. She was seen in tears in the public gallery with a tissue pressed against her face as Allan Wood was locked up.
Allan Wood, of Saltersgate in Ellsemere Port, aged 59(Image: Merseyside Police)
Merseyside Police’s Detective Constable Laura Madden said following the hearing: “This fraud placed a business under significant financial pressure, causing distress and worry to all employees. Lets not also forget the impact it would have had on their families as many feared for their jobs.
“This impact was clearly lost on Wood, and he will now be left to consider the full consequences of his actions while he serves time in prison. Fraud can and does devastate individuals and businesses, and thankfully Wood has now been prevented from causing any more harm.
“I hope that Wood’s sentencing today sends a clear message about how seriously police and the courts take such offences. To anyone who would think that defrauding a company is acceptable, e will investigate you and bring you to justice.”
