The manager of a Devon timber company has been sentenced to prison for obtaining money with menaces.
Andy Halpin was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for his role in pressuring two men to hand over money which he claimed was debt related to his former Devon timber merchant business Payne Timber.
Two other men were also jailed in the case.
Judge Martin Picton said the victims were frightened into handing over money, believing if they did not do so they or their families would be harmed.
The court heard that the business run by Halpin had been in difficulties in 2008 and went into administration.
Payne, based in Ottery St Mary, had suffered a drying up of bulk orders and lost 40% of its trade during the summer. Its branches in Exeter and Yeovil were shut.
Its assets were acquired by Cornwall’s largest sawmiller who renamed the operation Payne Timber Solutions, which Halpin went on to manage.
Adrian High, chairman of Duchy parent group A&B High Ltd, told TTJ afterwards that the offences by Halpin related to the former timber merchanting business Payne Timber and had no link with Duchy.
Mr High said he was “shocked” about the case and the fact that one of his managers had been jailed.
Mr High confirmed that Halpin had been working at Payne Timber Solutions until the time he was jailed.
