Property manager gets suspended jail sentence after fraudulently signing 55 EWS fire safety forms

The EWS1 form was created by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in December 2019 as a way of unsticking the housing market after leaseholders living in buildings with potentially dangerous cladding were unable to sell due to banks being wary of providing mortgages after the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

These forms require an appropriate professional to oversee the checks, sign off the forms and deem whether remediation is needed.

The court heard that Mr Clarke was outsourced to complete the forms by Paul Tedstone, chief technical officer at Specialist Facade Inspections (SFI), because at the time it did not have anyone appropriately qualified to sign them off.

At the time, Mr Clarke explained to SFI that his RICS membership was “on hold” but that he knew an ex-colleague who could sign them off.

However, Inside Housing revealed last year that Mr Clarke did not have the correct RICS accreditation to sign off any type of EWS form.

Mr Clarke then went on to use Ms Magee’s name on 55 forms, as well as set up a false email address for her.

After being made aware that her signature was being used, Ms Magee contacted the police. However, the court heard that she later became concerned when Mr Clarke began contacting her, and on one occasion she fled her home in fear for several days when another ex-colleague visited on the defendant’s behalf.

In her victim personal statement, Ms Magee said that she suffered “significant stress” as a result of Mr Clarke’s lies and that she had worked hard to build her reputation in the market.

Mr McLoughlin told the defendant that he had involved a “completely innocent member of the public” who had an “unblemished” 18-year career.

The court confirmed that all of the buildings have all now been rechecked to ensure they are compliant for fire safety.

Mr McLoughlin concluded by saying: “Because of underlying circumstances, a gambling addiction, you found yourself in this proverbial hole, spending more than you were actually earning, and you were in a very well-paid job.

“This was a sustained fraud with a significant degree of planning.”

Michael O’Brien, defending, said: “He made the wrong decision at each and every turn. He offers no excuses for his behaviour.”

Mr Clarke, who had no previous convictions, must also complete 200 hours of unpaid work and 15 hours of rehabilitative activity. He was also issued with a five-year restraining order preventing contact with Ms Magee.

The sentencing comes after an investigation by the Merseyside Police, who were alerted to what was going on after residents reported that forms had been signed off by an unauthorised person.

Speaking after today’s sentencing, Steve Ball, detective chief inspector from its economic interventions team, said: “It is pleasing to see that Thomas Clarke has been dealt with today, and with it a message has been sent to anyone else who would consider such attempted fraud.

“Mr Clarke was not qualified to make these important safety assessments, and his explanations to the companies and the police were emphatically proven to be false.

“The Grenfell Tower tragedy brought about a government and industry-wide response to fire safety, central to which was the EWS1, designed to record and assess any fire safety concerns in a consistent and universal manner. For Clarke to see this important safety work as an opportunity to fraudulently make money is disgraceful.

“The potential consequences of people and companies bypassing this process could be catastrophic, and we would encourage anyone requiring EWS1 forms to check the signatory on a form with the profession’s institution, to ensure all parties are satisfied that the properties are safe.

“Fraud investigations such as this can be complex and long-running but we were determined to ensure that Clarke was brought to justice. These companies affected have sustained a significant reputational harm and financial losses from this fraud.”

Joshua Tedstone, director at SFI, said: “We are hugely relieved that this issue has finally been resolved and that our position has been clarified and vindicated.

“We maintained throughout that the safety of our clients is and has always been crucial to all the work we do and that our work was accurate, something that was acknowledged by the court during this trial. We were unaware of Thomas Clarke’s practises.”