Fraud case accused 'set fire to evidence'

A depot manager who embezzled more than £30,000 worth of stock from his employers set fire to the building where he worked to cover up the evidence, a jury heard.

David Bratt, aged 58, denies arson at the Hi-Q depot in King Street, Dudley, but admits fraud in relation to a 17-month scam which saw him siphon off tyres delivered to the company to sell himself, raking in £30,210.

Bratt, formerly of Jason Road, Wollescote, Stourbridge, is standing trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court accused of burning down the depot in what prosecutors called a "panicked" bid to destroy evidence.

Mr Geoffrey Dann, prosecuting, told the court yesterday Bratt had received a phone call from his manager Christopher Suttle on September 10, 2009, telling him he had found discrepancies in the company accounts.

Shortly afterwards Bratt set the burglar alarm at the premises and just nine minutes later fire crews received calls from passers-by saying there was a fire "well under way".

"Perhaps he panicked – perhaps he was thinking it was a way to cover up this fraud," Mr Dann told the court.

"It's a remarkable coincidence if this fire was not started by Bratt, that it was started within 15 minutes of him being told of the investigation."

The court heard the fire destroyed archive files of transactions.

Bratt now lives in South Road Green, Somerset.

The trial continues.