Gangmaster bailed after changing plea to guilty
A dairy gangmaster who admitted operating without a licence has been bailed until next spring.
Christopher Blakeney and Marden Management had both pleaded not guilty to providing workers without the necessary permits.
But after lengthy legal discussions with the judge about whether or not they had a lawful defence, both changed their pleas to admit the offences.
And the jury, who had only heard evidence from David Nix, head of licensing at the Gangmasters Licensing Authority, were directed to return guilty verdicts.
The defendants were still contesting the prosecution’s evidence that “exploitation” took place, so a hearing was started where a judge would decide the truth.
However, that trial also was stopped when the 50-year-old withdrew his challenge to what was being alleged by former employees and the Gangmasters Licensing Agency.
Mr Blakeney, who is currently working in Saudi Arabia, has now been released on bail to a date in April and a pre-sentence report is to be prepared by the probation service.
The maximum sentence for operating without a licence is a custodial sentence of ten years with an unlimited fine. The company can only be punished with a financial penalty.
Marden Management, based in Calne, Wiltshire, had illegally supplied workers to about 500 farms, mainly in the dairy industry, all over the country.
The company had argued that because it – and not the farmers – had paid the staff, the company was the end user and so did not require a gangmaster’s licence.
But Judge Euan Ambrose, sitting at Swindon crown court, ruled that was not the case, saying the labourers were under the control of the farmers, regardless of who paid them.
After he delivered his ruling, the defendants considered their position before changing their pleas.
Labourers were paid less than the agricultural minimum wage and had illegal deductions made from their pay packets, including money held as a “bond”.
Mr Blakeney and his company were to contest the claims, saying they paid for flights, insurance and other things that brought the pay package in line with regulations.
Mr Blakeney, of Conock, near Devizes, and Marden Management, of Calne, each admit four counts of acting as a gangmaster without the proper licence.
The offending took place between October 2006 – when the law was introduced in the wake of the Morecambe Bay tragedy, when 21 cockle pickers died – and June 2010.
Brendan Moorhouse, prosecuting, told the jury Marden Management had applied for the permit in 2006, but it was refused as the company never paid the £2,130 fee.
Despite the company being warned that it was contravening the regulations when it enquired about possible exemption, Mr Moorhouse said it kept on with the illicit trade.
The company even set up a “bogus educational scheme” to claim the workers were trainees and so exempt from the rules, the jury was told.