A bestselling author and a top accountant were eac
A bestselling author and a top accountant were each jailed for five years today (Fri) for hijacking a firm from two company bosses.
Writer David Reiss, 48, made his name in 1980 after he penned the inside story on the hit Korean War comedy M*A*S*H.
But in a plot which could have come from a novel he teamed up with a respectable accountant, a former bodyguard to the Queen and a bouncer in a tale of intrigue and violence.
With Peter Rapaport, 55, he arranged for two henchmen to imprison company directors Philip Mason, 42, and Anne-Marie Moore and steal their company at knifepoint.
One of the hired thugs, former Household Cavalry soldier Ian Fardell, 30, warned the pair their ‘tonsils would be ripped out’ if they did not do as they were told.
They were driven to Lightwater in Surrey and told to sign away control of their marketing company into the hands of US rival Reiss, of Dallas, Texas.
The next day Reiss turned up at the UK firm’s headquarters in Middlesex and told the company secretary that he ‘was now in control’.
The court heard Reiss and Rapaport had planned the takeover in a series of coded emails.
Their two knifemen were ‘the entertainers’ and the kidnap plot as a ‘mystery fiction adventure.
‘
Reiss, the director of a firm called Affinity Memberships Inc, believed Mr Mason and Mrs Moore cheated him in a business deal.
In 1990 Reiss showed Mr Mason how to run a ‘discount buying club’ and introduced him to two clients.
Over the years Mr Mason’s UK firm Affinity Group Ltd paid some pnds stlg 160,000 to Reiss for his help.
But the relationship soured in the Summer of 2000 when Reiss started making ‘wholly unreasonable’
demands for cash and declaring he owned the firm.
When Reiss demanded for pnds stlg 35,000, Mr Mason and Mrs Moore wrote to him indicating he had no interest in the UK firm.
Roger Smart, prosecuting, said Reiss’s reaction was ‘initially one of surprise and then of apparent hurt.
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Reiss phoned Mr Mason and threatened: ‘I’ll make sure you never work in the industry again.
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And he warned Mr Mason ‘he should be very careful in what he did as David Reiss could do things to him that he had no idea about.
‘
Mr Smart went on: ‘Reiss resolved to strip them by force of their positions in the company and take over the whole business as if it had always been his.
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Rapaport was paid US dollars 7,500 for arranging the paperwork for Mr Mason and Mrs Moore would be forced to sign.
Reiss had promised him a company car and insurance plus pnds stlg 24,000 each year to act as his UK agent.
After a three week trial a jury convicted Rapaport of conspiracy to rob and conspiracy to falsely imprison.
between 1 September 2000 and 24 January 2001.
He was cleared of conspiracy to kidnap between the same dates.
Rapaport, originally from Stockport, but now living in Maida Vale, West London, had denied the charges.
Reiss, of (18383) Preston Road, Suite 200, Dallas, Texas, admitted conspiracy to rob and conspiracy to falsely imprison.
Fardell, of (7) Barroon, Castle Donnington, Leicester and nightclub bouncer Mark Sharpe, 30, of Hedge Road, Hugglescote, Coalville, Leics, both admitted conspiracy to rob and conspiracy to kidnap.
Mr Mason and Miss Moore were taken hostage on January 23 this year as they left the Affinity Group’s offices in Holly Road, Hampton Hill, Middlesex, in a company Mercedes.
Fardell lent into the car, smiling as he pressed a knife with a 10-inch blade into Miss Moore’s lap while Sharpe, stood by the car.
He shouted at the pair: ‘If you do as I say there won’t be any trouble, but if you mess me about, I’ll rip your tonsils out through your f*****g arse.
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They were taken to a house near Lightwater in Surrey, where they were forced to sign a typed resignation letter saying: ‘I have enjoyed working for the Affinity Group.
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The victims were also given a sheet of ‘rules’ advising them not to tell the police – a copy of which was later found in Mr Mason’s home in Portesbery Road, Camberley, Surrey.
The jury heard how in an e-mail on 26 September to Rapaport, Reiss wrote: ‘Re our conversation yesterday.
We’ll have to arrange other parties re the
entertainment as I don’t believe my contacts will be available.
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But Mr Smart explained that ‘entertainment was a euphemism.
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He went on: ‘The people who were to carry out the kidnapping and robbery were known as the entertainers.
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On an email to Rapaport on October 7, Reiss wrote: ‘Peter.
In keeping with the discussion we were having regarding the mystery fiction adventure novel we’ve been working on.
‘I very strongly feel any meeting between the characters at the office will be ill-advised.
There will be one or two other members of staff working
there.
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Reiss also described one of his henchmen as a ‘dastardly doers of deeds’ who would read out the ‘rules of order’ to Mr Mason and Miss Moore.
The rules, Reiss explained, were that ‘any retaliation or mention of this meeting will be dealt with severely and be fatal to you and your families.
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A chilling footnotes reads: ‘This should make an exciting Chapter 4, would you not agree?’
The jury heard Rapaport paid pnds stlg 1,000 to Sharpe and Fardell at a hotel near his office in Welbeck Street in London’s West End.
He then gave them documents in a blue folder to give to Mrs Moore and Mr Mason to sign – formally handing over the company to Reiss.
Reiss even planned to destroy the marriages of Mrs Moore and Mr Mason by telling their spouses that they were having affairs.
When he was arrested Reiss told detectives: ‘They have just resigned.
That is why I am here.
I am now in full control.
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Jailing Reiss for five years Judge Peter Ader told him: ‘I accept you started with a sense of grievance but it is clear you determined upon vengeance and thought up the whole scheme.
‘You also urged the use of violence and the carrying of some form of weapon.
The judge told Rapaport: ‘It is very sad to see someone like you involved in such a sordid affair and it’s a tragedy for your family.
‘Your role in this affair was as the middle man.
You affected the introduction between the kidnappers and the mastermind.
‘You knew perfectly well what was involved.
‘ He looked shocked as he was also sentenced to five years jail.
Jailing Fardell and Sharpe for four years each the judge added: ‘It is right to say that Mr Mason and Mrs Moore were subjected to a terrifying ordeal.
‘One can easily imagine the trauma of being kidnapped and being held at knifepoint without knowing what is going to happen.
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Reiss has worked as a university lecturer in TV and film and he is a member of the prestigious US Writers Guild.
He wrote the bestselling inside story of M*A*S*H
in 1980.
Peter Finnigan, for Rapaport, said: ‘These men were not professional men of violence.
He was drawn into these events by a strong personality.
‘He has expressed his great sorrow and regret over what happened to these victims.
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Fardell is a former Lance Corporal in the Blues and Royals Regiment who has carried out important duties such as Trooping the Colour.
He was also deployed to Heathrow Airport to counter terrorism during the Gulf War.
ends
