FORMER Kidderminster Harriers footballer, Darren Steadman, has been jailed for four-and-a-half years for a series of frauds totalling almost £2 million.

Among them was dishonestly retaining almost £1 million stolen from a bank account of Habitat founder, Sir Terence Conran.

The former Harriers goalkeeper was described by Judge Michael Mott as "a very dishonest person".

Before handing down the sentence at Worcester Crown Court on Friday, Judge Mott heard that the 34-year-old had wrongfully obtained credits of £519,995 and £459,996.

West Mercia Police's economic crime unit arrested Steadman, of Greatfield Road, Kidderminster, in December, 2002 after the cash was siphoned off from Sir Terence's Abbey National account.

The police inquiry centred on the bank's retail customer services division in Bradford, West Yorkshire, from where the illegal transfers were thought to have been made.

Steadman tried to blame an unidentified venture capitalist called Colin or Clive McKay.

DC Gary Earp, from the economic crime unit, however, said there was no evidence that this person actually existed.

"It is unusual, to say the least, for an individual to transfer nearly £1 million into another person's bank account, without giving that person their first name, telephone number or contact address," he said.

"I am delighted by today's sentence. Sir Terence Conran's account has been repaid in full by his bank and further police enquiries are ongoing to recover £30,630.13 which is still outstanding."

Steadman admitted four counts of obtaining money transfers by deception amounting to £44,300 and four counts of copying a wage slip and power bills to defraud a finance company.

The judge also took into consideration the retention of criminal property to the value of £375,000, of which £368,000 was transferred to Steadman's account in Spain, three high value cheques totalling £446,000, and dishonestly obtaining £97,000 by using false details in Essex.

"You are clearly a very dishonest person and will only turn over a new leaf if you realise the cost to you and perhaps your family of being found out and punished is not a price worth paying," said Judge Mott.

Peter Arnold, defending, said his client has co-operated fully with the police, adding Steadman was merely the face or the front man of the scam.

"Although clearly involved, he was not someone who was at the top of the organisation," he said. "He was used by those at the top to do the work for them."

He added that Steadman's financial gain was a small percentage of the total.

Alert bank staff tipped

off police

COMMENTING on the Conran fraud, Det Con Gary Earp said: "Darren Steadman attempted to circumvent checks on the transfers of large amounts of money from one account to another.

"We do not know why he chose Sir Terence Conran as his victim, other than the fact that he thought he had access to Abbey National accounts and Sir Terence had a substantial amount of money in one account.

"Banking systems at Abbey National, together with alert staff at Abbey National's branch in Kidderminster, ensured that Steadman failed.

A complicated 11-month investigation by police, fully supported by Abbey National, resulted in Friday's conviction.

"When cornered, Darren Steadman attempted to pin the blame for his actions on an unidentified venture capitalist called Colin or Clive McKay. Steadman claimed he was simply allowing McKay to deposit money into his accounts for property investment purposes," said Det Con Earp.

"This 'Mr Big' that Steadman relied upon for his defence was never traced by Steadman or us."

'Caused distress'

ON the subject of the vehicle credit fraud, Det Con Mark Bancroft said: "Darren Steadman came to the attention of Kidderminster police after complaints relating to his car business, Oakleaf Car Sales in Mill Street, Kidderminster, which he ran between January and August, 2002.

"During this time, Steadman arranged 16 finance deals with different finance companies and defrauded them of a total of £210,745.

"On some occasions, Steadman used genuine documents relating to people who had previously purchased cars from him to secure finance for vehicles he claimed they were now purchasing. On some occasions the cars on which he arranged credit were not even on his car lot and belonged to other people.

"Darren Steadman is a career fraudster and a poor one at that. He has caused much distress to innocent victims of identity fraud, who have been chased by finance companies for payments for cars they have not purchased.

"Even now, our enquiries continue to ensure that all profit he has made from his crimes are recovered before he leaves jail."

Steadman was also dealt with for two other matters, which were "taken into consideration" in sentencing.

Steadman admitted willingly using his bank account to facilitate the removal of stolen money from the jurisdiction of the UK, a sum in the region of £368,000. The matter was investigated by Derbyshire police. The offence dated back to October, 2003.

In the Metropolitan Police area, Steadman dishonestly obtained £97,341.87 by using false details in order to open a bank account to receive stolen monies. This offence dated back to April, 2003.