Plymouth property fraudster Mark Postle-Hacon jailed
A property boss has been jailed for four years for stealing more than £360,000 from developers and residents.
Mark Postle-Hacon, 41, switched residents' cash into his own bank accounts and faked documents to cover his tracks, Plymouth Crown Court heard.
The money was used to prop up his firm, PHC Management Ltd, and fund his own lifestyle.
Postle-Hacon of Lockington Avenue, Plymouth, admitted defrauding residents and developers and fraudulent trading.
'Lined his pockets'
The court heard he siphoned off money which should have been used to pay the bills for utilities, gardening, cleaning and insurance for at least nine apartment blocks between January 2009 and January 2013.
Money taken included £198,960 from the developers of Phoenix Quay in Millbay, Plymouth.
The total amount lost in the frauds was £360,492, but police financial investigators could not find any assets and the judge was forced to order a token amount of £50 to be confiscated.
Judge Graham Cottle also banned him from being a director for seven years.
He told Cottle: "A lot of people have lost a lot of money and he has lined his pockets.
"This was a gross breach of trust and the losers are not going to get their money back."
The court heard that father-of-two Postle-Hacon, a well-known face at social events in Plymouth, had lost his family home, marriage and job as a result of the fraud.
Simon Ralph, defending, described him as "fundamentally an honest man".
Linden Homes, one of the Phoenix Quay developers, said: "As soon as we were aware of the issue we appointed a new management company at Phoenix Quay to protect our residents to ensure they were not affected and were not out of pocket."