A businessman has been jailed for three years for stealing more than £400,000 from his company’s accounts.
James Milton Howard-Higgins, 44 and of The Avenue in Poole, was sentenced at Southampton Crown Court on Monday 31 October 2016 after pleading guilty at previous hearings to seven counts of fraud.
Howard-Higgins was also disqualified as acting as a co-director of a company for 10 years and was told Proceeds of Crime proceedings would begin.
The court heard that Howard-Higgins was the co-founder of Orchid Maritime Security Limited based in Poole, which is a consultancy practice specialising in maritime security and training solutions.
Around three years ago it was discovered that Howard-Higgins had stolen around £260,000 from the company.
Howard-Higgins admitted the offences to the director and, due to the circumstances, it was decided that the debt would be absorbed into the company. He had his credit cards removed and his dealings with company money were closely monitored.
In November 2014 it was discovered that Howard-Higgins had taken out another company credit card in the name of a woman who had nothing to do with the business.
The matter was again dealt with internally and Howard-Higgins was forced to stand down as a director and downgrade his shares. He was also removed as a signatory on the account in December 2014.
In April 2015 questions were raised over money not being received and outstanding invoices, the court was told.
Enquiries were made and the company director discovered that vast sums of money had been paid into Howard-Higgins’ personal account. Howard-Higgins resigned and admitted stealing the money. In total £426,406 were stolen.
The matter was reported to Dorset Police and Howard-Higgins was arrested. He was charged on 18 February 2016.
Detective Constable Michelle Lawrence, of Bournemouth CID, said: “James Howard-Higgins systematically stole from his business partner over a sustained period of time despite being caught in the act and given numerous second chances.
“He selfishly abused his position of trust and I hope the sentence given will act as a reminder that anyone convicted of fraud offences will be dealt with robustly by the courts.”
