The former managing director of Flamingo Flowers, John Hackett, has been sentenced to three years in prison.
The disgraced executive had already pleaded guilty to four theft and fraud charges, including theft by employee and fraud by abuse of position and two counts of converting criminal property when he was sentenced on 23 August at Luton Crown Court.
He was dismissed from Flamingo UK on 28 January last year following an internal investigation at the flower and vegetable supplier.
The company handed its file over to police and Hackett was first arrested in March 2011 and bailed several times during the police investigation.
Hackett was already working for Zwetsloots when the Bedfordshire flower supplier was taken over by Flamingo in 2003. At the time of his dismissal and arrest the company, which is part of the Finlays group, was restructured and is now known as Finlays Flowers.
Martin Hudson, CEO of Finlays Horticulture Holdings and Hackett’s former boss, said: “We communicated with our customers at the time and at no point was there any interruption in service to customers.
“We have all our own checks in place, which is how the business’s own management was able to discover the fraud in the first place and disclose the irregularity to the police. Some people might think that this case has taken a long time, but a detailed investigation like this does take a long time. We are pleased that the saga is at an end.
“Finlays Flowers would like to take this opportunity to reiterate the company’s commitment to the highest standards of customer service and ethical business practice.”
In the months leading up to his dismissal and arrest, Hackett was very active in the Standards Corrupted campaign run by a group of Liverpool Football Club fans in protest at the club’s ownership and worsening financial situation.
The protesters produced and sold alternative black football shirts for fans to wear to show their support for the club and dislike of its ownership.
The name Standards Corrupted was itself a corruption of the football club sponsor’s name, Standard Chartered.
