Dawlish News

An unauthorised financial consultant who mishandled £40,000 given to him by a farmer who already had debts of more than £200,000 from the 2001 foot and mouth outbreak has been given a suspended jail term.

At Exeter Crown Court 63-year-old Harold Bell, from Teignmouth, admitted four charges of transferring cash when unauthorised to do so under the Financial Services and Markets Act.He was given a nine-month prison sentence suspended for two years and banned from being a company director for 10 years.

The court heard that although the charges related to £40,000 the victim had not had any of the £100,000 back from Bell and his company Beverley Becke Ltd which traded in Dawlish.