SOUTH KENSINGTON HOTEL MANAGER KENNETH PATTERSON
SOUTH KENSINGTON HOTEL MANAGER KENNETH PATTERSON WAS CLEARED
OF CONNING OVER #1000 OUT OF THE DHSS AT AT ACTON CROWN COURT
THE PROSECUTION HAD ALLEGED THAT PATTERSON 27, HAD PROVIDED
FALSE RECEIPTS AND LETTERS TO SOCIAL SECURITY CLAIMANTS WHO WERE NOT
HOTEL ‘GUESTS’.
BUT PATTERSON, THE LIVE-IN MANAGER OF THE ALBERT HOTEL,
QUEENSGATE TOLD THE JURY THAT HE HAD SIGNED A FALSE CONFESSION AFTER
A POLICE OFFICER PROMISED NOT TO OPPOSE BAIL AND TOLD HIM IF HE
ADMITTED THE SWINDLE HE WOULD GET OFF LIGHTLY IN COURT.
PATTERSON ALLEGED ONE OFFIR, DETECTIVE CONSTABLE NICHOLAS
WALKER HAD ASKED HIM FOR A BRIBE.
‘HE ASKED ME FOR A SUM OF MONEY SO THAT I WOULD HAVE NO
PROBLEMS AT COURT.
HE SAID HEKNEW I HAD A LOT OF MONEY,’ PATTERSON
TOLD THE JURY.
‘IN THEEND HE CAME STRAIGHT OUTAND SAID HE WANTED #2000.
‘
PATTERSON WHO LODGED A FORMAL COMPLAINT ABOUT THE INCIDENT
SAID OUTSIDE COURT HE WOULD ‘HAVE TO THINK ABOUT WHAT TO DO NEXT.
‘
HE TOLD THE JURY HE WAS INTERVIEWED BY BOTH DC WALKER AND
A DHSS OFFICIAL MR DEREK CLARK.
HE CLAIMED THEY TOLD HIM IF HE ADMITTED THE FRAUD ‘I WOULD
PROBABLY GET A #150 OR #200 FINE AND BAIL WOULD NOT BE OPPOSED THE
NEXT MORNING’, PATTERSON SAID.
AFTER THIS HE HAD SIGNED A STATEMENT IN WHICH HE ADMITTED
GIVING OUT RECEIPTS FOR A FEW POUNDS, AND COULD NOT STOP BECAUSE OF
THREATS TO HIS FAMILY IN BELFAST, PATTERSON ADDED.
BUT IN COURT PATTERSON SAID IT WAS IN FACT MR CLARK AND DC
WALKER WHO HAD SUGGESTED THE ANSWERS TO HIM, AND HE WAS
INOCENT OF ANY FRAUD.
THE OFFICER AND MR CLARK DENIED PATTERSON’S ALLEGATIONS AND
SAID DC WALKER HAD CONDUCTED THE INTERVIEW IN THE NORMAL MANNER,
WITH MR CLARK PRESENT.
MR GRAHAM DAVIES, PROSECUTING, HAD ALLEGED CLAIMANTS USED
FAKE HOTEL BILLS PROVIDED BY PATTERSON TO CLAIM MONEY FROM THE
DHSS.
THE HOTEL ACCOMODATES OVER 100 RESIDENTS IN DORMITARY- STYLE
ROOMS FOR FOUR TO SIX PEOPLE, EACH PAYING #7 A NIGHT, THE COURT
HEARD.
IT ADVERTISES IN MAGAZINES SUCH AS ‘TIME OUT’ AS BEING
RECOMMENDED BY THE OBSERVER NEWSPAPER.
ABOUT A QUARTER OF THE RESIDENTS WERE DHSS CLAIMANTS,
PATTERSON TOLD THE COURT.
HE WAS ARRESTED AFTER DHSS FRAUD INVESTIGATERS HAD SWOOPED
ON THE HOTEL AND GONE INTO RESIDENTS BEDROOMS AT 8 AM TO CHECK
WHO WAS THERE, AND EXAMINED HOTEL RECORDS.
THE COURT HEARD SEVERAL PEOPLE WERE DEALT WITH IN THE
MAGISTRATES COURT FOR DHSS FRAUD OFFENCES AFTER THE RAID.
AT THE TIME OF HIS ALLEGED FRAUD, PATTERSON SAID THE HOTEL
HAD BEEN SLACKLY RUN, AND RESIDENTS, OTHER STAFF AND VISITORS
COULD OBTAIN ACCESS TO HOTEL RECEIPTS, HEADED PAPER AND OFFICAL
STAMPS.
HE ADMITTED THAT WHEN HE BEGAN WORKING IN JULY 1984 HE MAY
HAVE WRITTEN A FEW RECEIPTS FOR DHSS CLAIMANTS WITHOUT CHECKING
HOW LONG THEY HAD STAYED AT THE HOTEL.
BUT OTHER ALLEGED FALSE RECEIPTS WERE NOT IN HIS HANDWRITING,
HE ADDED.
DC WALKER TOLD THE JURY HE ORIGINALLY BELIEVED THE DHSS
HAD BEEN DEFRAUDED OF UP TO #100,000.
HE AGREED HE HAD SUSPECTED PATTERSON OF SENDING LARGE SUMS
OF MONEY TO IRELAND.
‘THE INFORMATION I HAD WAS SOME OF THIS MONEY MAY WELL HAVE
BEEN CHANNELLED BACK TOWARDS PARAMILITARY ORGANISATIONS’, HE TOLD
THE JURY.
BUT PATTERSON WAS NO LONGER SUSPECTED OF HAVING TERRORIST
CONNECTIONS, OR OF SUCH LARGE-SCALE FRAUD, DC WALKER ADDED.
THE OFFICER WHO HAS BEEN IN THE FORCE FOR SEVEN YEARS DENIED
ASKING FOR A BRIBE WHILE HE WAS FINGERPRINTING PATTERSON AT FULHAM
POLICE STATION.
‘THAT NEVER TOOK PLACE’ HE SAID.
DET CON WALKER SAID PRIOR TO JOINING THE POLICE HE HAD BEEN A
SERGEANT IN THE GRENADIER GUARDS WHO WAS DECORATED WHILE SERVING
IN NORTHERN IRELAND.
PATTERSON, WHO IS STILL THE ALBERT HOTEL MANAGER, WAS CLEARED
BY THE JURY OF CONSPIRACY TO OBTAIN PROPERTY BY DECEPTION WITH
PERSONS UNKNOWN BEFORE OCTOBER 31 1985.
HE WAS ALSO FOUND NOT GUILTY BY DIRECTION OF THE JUDGE ASSISTANT
RECORDER PITTS OF PROCURING THE EXECUTION OF A VALUABLE SECURITY,
AND TWO CHARGES OF FALSE ACCOUNTING, ALL ON OR ABOUT THE SAME DATE.
HE WAS FINED #100 AFTER PLEADING GUILTY TO POSSESSING 3.
35 GRAMS
OF CANNABIS HE ATTEMPTED TO THROW AWAY WHEN POLICE SEARCHED HIS ROOM.
ENDS.
