Crook jailed for swindling nearly £300,000 from charity pension scheme for lavish lifestyle has MBE stripped

Crook Patrick McLarry, 72, was jailed for five years in February last year after he defrauded cash from Yateley Industries for the Disabled, a charity dedicated to supporting vulnerable adults.

He spent the money on a home and warehouse in the south of France, a house in Hartley Wintney, Hampshire, and to repay a debt he owed over the purchase of a pub lease for the old Mary Rose pub in St George’s Road, Portsmouth.

McLarry was the charity’s CEO and chairman at the time.

He has also been banned from being a company director for eight years

In September, Salisbury Crown Court ruled that he must pay back £286,852 to the Yateley Industries for the Disabled pension scheme, to compensate for what he swindled – plus inflation.

It comes after The Pensions Regulator (TPR) secured a confiscation order against McLarry, of Bere Alston, Devon.

Now McLarry’s full from grace is complete after he was stripped of his MBE earlier this month after TPR gave evidence to the Honours Committee.

Nicola Parish, TPR’s executive director of Frontline Regulation, said: ‘It is a lesson to all would-be pension fraudsters.

‘TPR is at the ready to use our powers to bring criminals like Patrick McLarry to justice and, where possible, return scheme members’ stolen savings. TPR, working with colleagues from other regulators and law enforcement agencies, will pursue criminals who exploit others’ hard-earned savings for their personal gain.

‘Whistleblowers were pivotal to the success of this case. We remind trustees, advisers and scheme members who have suspicions or concerns about the way their workplace pension is being run that they can contact us via the whistleblowing form on our website.’

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Speaking in September, Erica Carroll, TPR’s director of enforcement said: ‘McLarry abused his position to steal money from the scheme’s members, money which was supposed to help pay for their retirement. Instead, he spent the money on himself.

‘He received a lengthy jail sentence for his crime and quite rightly he must now return the money he stole back to the pension scheme for the benefit of its members. If he fails to hand over the cash, he will have to serve an extra three years in jail and still have to pay up.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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