Crooked chairman starts jail term

The crooked chairman of a Staffordshire group of companies is starting a four-year jail sentence today.

Paul Mulholland siphoned off around £1 million from one of the firms that he knew was going bust and bought a house overlooking the 18th green at St Andrews golf course.

The 56-year-old should have used the money to pay off the debts of doomed Elson Industries but pocketed it instead, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard yesterday.

Mulholland, who ran Elson and a string of other firms, used some of the cash to snap up the dream £2million home by the golf course after bidding £435,000 above the asking price.

The self-made businessman, who established a 12-strong portfolio of engineering firms based at Burton-on-Trent and lived in splendour at Bromley Hall, Kings Bromley, turned to crime when the businesses hit financial trouble.

Mulholland stole a £120,000 EU grant from one of the companies - BI Industries (Holdings) Ltd - and also took almost £1 million to help fund his lavish lifestyle from Elson Industries in seven months between the end of 2004 and early 2005 as it collapsed, the court was told.

Mr Andrew Smith, defending, told of how the St Andrews house was repossessed along with other property and Mulholland's marriage broke down after he was declared bankrupt.

Father-of-four Mulholland, now of Cranmere Court, Lichfield, admitted eight offences of fraudulently removing company funds from Elson Industries after a jury convicted him of the £120,000 theft from BI Industries (Holdings) Ltd.