A SHARES dealer who failed to tell the Official Receiver about £100,000 he transferred overseas only months before his bankruptcy has been jailed for 12 months.

The jury at Liverpool Crown Court found Rowland Nuttall guilty of failing to disclose the transfer, making an omission in his statement of affairs and failing to account for property lost.

Nuttall, aged 57, of Grange Road, Heswall, denied the charges but did not give evidence at his three-day trial. Judge Ian Crompton told Nuttall he was not a man of good character and the offences were too serious to justify a non-custodial sentence.

Nuttall claimed he transferred the £100,000 from an account in Liverpool to Spain to pay a debt to a man called Michael LeHarve but there were no details. Nuttall was made bankrupt over a £32,000 debt he owed stockbrokers.

Mr Stephen Beavan, defending, said this would be the first custodial sentence for Nuttall. He had been married 34 years and his wife was not in good health.

Nuttall, who has since been discharged from bankruptcy, was involved in the motor trade for a number of years before becoming involved in shares.

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