Bankrupt landlord received £25,000 Covid loan despite pub closing six months before pandemic

A bankrupt landlord has been handed a suspended sentence after he “took advantage” of a taxpayer-backed Covid loan scheme by applying for tens of thousands of pounds – despite his pub closing before the pandemic.

Gary Wright, 46, was given a £25,000 bounce-back loan on behalf of his Talbot Ale House in St Helens, Merseyside, in June 2020.

The bounce-back scheme was introduced to help small businesses through the pandemic by allowing applicants to borrow up to £50,000 at a low interest rate.

But Wright’s pub closed down in September 2019, six months before the first Covid lockdown, and he was declared bankrupt in February 2020.

He was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years, and ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work and pay £1,500 in costs. The loan was repaid in full this year.

David Snasdell, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: “Gary Wright incurred significant debts after his business failed and he was ultimately declared bankrupt.

“He then attempted to take advantage of a scheme which was backed by taxpayers and designed to support viable small businesses through the pandemic.

“Bankrupts are legally required to declare their status when applying for loans or credit. Wright clearly failed to do this which is why he now has a criminal conviction.”

Last year, 69-year-old Gerald Smith was jailed for 18 months for spending thousands of pounds of his bounce-back loan on a lavish lifestyle of eating at Mayfair restaurants and buying designer clothes.

Smith, of Southampton Row in Bloomsbury, central London, applied for £50,000 using the name Ian Dunbar, who was listed as a director of Arcana Solutions.

The funds were paid out by Arcana Solutions and signed by electronic signature as Ian Dunbar. Officers discovered Ian Dunbar and Smith were the same person and he was arrested in 2022.

He spent £22,000 of it on court fees relating to a 2006 fraud case he was involved in where he pleaded guilty to stealing more than £34m that belonged to a software firm called Izodia.