Inventor's evidence heared in Shropshire fraud case
Inventor Sir Clive Sinclair has told a jury that he had never met or heard of a former Shropshire businessman who is accused of being part of a £14 million fraud.
The 73-year-old entrepreneur was called to give evidence in the trial of David Murray Griffiths and Simon Drew at Birmingham Crown Court yesterday.
Among the allegations against the two defendants is that they had falsely claimed that 50-year-old Griffiths had previously worked with Sir Clive's computer development company.
Sir Clive, the managing director and owner of Sinclair Research, was asked to recall his pioneering days in home computers.
He told the court that work on the development of the hardware of two computers – ZX80 and ZX81 – was carried out by himself and three other people at a base in Cambridge in the late 1970s.
Sir Clive said he was responsible for the architecture of the computers – the overall concept and how they worked – and the software was provided by another company.
When asked by Mr Malcolm Morse, prosecuting, if one of the Cambridge team was David Griffiths the inventor replied: "No, he was not".
"Have you ever met anyone by that name or a David Murray Griffiths?"
"No, not to my knowledge," said Sir Clive.
Two of the 34 charges faced by the defendants, involving investments of more than £300,000, include claims that Griffiths had worked with Sir Clive and his research company.
Mr Simon Russell-Flint, for Griffiths, apologised to Sir Clive for "dragging" him to court to ask questions about a man he had not met or even heard of.
He did ask Sir Clive about the development of the micro processor, including Intel, with which Griffiths has also claimed to have been involved.
Both Griffiths and Drew are alleged to have made exaggerated and false claims about their backgrounds to dupe people into investing in projects to make children's animated TV shows.
They are said to have obtained cash, cheques or bank guarantees through Bewdley-based Inspire GLG Ltd over a five-year period.
Griffiths, of New Road, Oreton, near Cleobury Mortimer, and 49-year-old Drew, formerly of Larches Lane, Oreton, now living in West Sussex, deny 16 charges of fraud by false representation and 18 allegations of deception.
The trial continues.
