Lavish lifestyle of Shropshire potato scam boss

Jailed former potato supplier David Baxter swapped life in Shropshire for a lavish lifestyle of five-star hotels, fine dining and luxury yachts after playing his part in a bribery scandal which saw supermarket Sainsbury's ripped off to the tune of £9 million.

But his opulent lifestyle, which included a luxury trip to Monte Carlo for the Monaco Grand Prix, came to an abrupt end when he was exposed by investigators probing financial irregularities at Greenvale – the company he worked for in Stoke Heath, near Market Drayton.

Together with former Sainsbury's potato buyer John Maylam and former Greenvale finance director Andrew Behagg, Baxter, from Hinstock, near Market Drayton, was part of a white-collar criminal gang whose theft and corruption went unnoticed for at least two years.

Baxter and Behagg showered Maylam with gifts and hospitality in return for lucrative contracts with Sainsbury's. Hundreds of thousands of pounds was spent on Maylam so he could take his friends and family to exclusive hotels and a VIP trip to Monaco.

The gang's scheme ripped off the supermarket giant by creating a spending pot of almost £5 million.

Maylam was jailed for four years, while accomplices Baxter and Behagg were jailed for two-and-a-half years and three years respectively at Croydon Crown Court.

In May 2007 Maylam jetted off to the south of France and Monte Carlo with his wife, along with Baxter and friends, for an all-expenses-paid holiday for his 40th birthday. Between them, they spent nights at the five-star Hotel Byblos in St Tropez, the swanky Hotel Martinez in Cannes and The Hermitage in Monaco.

Their total bill for the rooms, meals and corporate hospitality tickets for the showpiece Monaco Grand Prix topped £350,000.

Greenvale signed off the trip as 'team building' and in court it emerged Baxter considered the entertainment 'as work'. While on another trip to Jersey, Maylam and Baxter, who were described as 'drinking partners' in court, hired a Sunseeker motor yacht to cruise around the English Channel.

Maylam also notched up 137 nights at Claridge's hotel in London's Mayfair, paid for by credit cards charged to accounts created by the potato company. Baxter, meanwhile, stayed at the same hotel for 77 nights in total.

As well as meals, room service and other treats, the buyer withdrew multiple cash advances from the hotel of around £2,000 each. Between January 2006 and January 2008 a total of £350,000 was spent on stays at the upmarket hotel. Maylam was also bought a black Aston Martin V8 Vantage, worth £94,000.

His defence counsel, Nicholas Walker, said Maylam 'went white' when the car was delivered and 'it lay in the drive almost undriven because it was a reminder of how far he had sunk'.

Mr Walker said his client admitted the entertainment lavished on him was 'excessive almost to the point of vulgarity'.

All three had been employed by their firms for many years – Baxter for 30 years.

The scam took place between 2006 and 2008, coming to light after Greenvale's parent company, Produce Investments, ordered an investigation.

A confiscation hearing will be held early next year.

Detective Superintendent Tony Crampton, of City of London Police, said: "Maylam and Baxter both had good jobs with decent salaries. But they decided they wanted a place on Millionaires' Row so they cooked up an elaborate fraud that saw them divert seven-figure sums from their employers' accounts."

A Sainsbury's spokeswoman said: "This was an unacceptable and calculated crime against Sainsbury's and we are pleased that justice has been done."

See also:

• Worker helped fleece Sainsbury’s in £9m scandal