New date for alleged Bowles House flats Falmouth fraud trial

At the same hearing, a third man was found formally not guilty of aiding and abetting, after the prosecution offered no evidence against him.

Neil David Bailey, of Sandbach, Cheshire, previously appeared before Truro Crown Court in March last year.

Mr Bailey, who was 76 at the time of the hearing, pleaded not guilty to aiding and abetting two men to make a gain.

On Thursday this week, the prosecution put forward no evidence against Mr Bailey. As a result, Judge Peter Johnson issued a Section 17 verdict of not guilty in relation to the charge against him.

The hearing last March also heard pleas from two men charged with committing fraud while being the manager and freeholder of flats in Falmouth.

Colin Russel Stephens, then aged 54, and James W Ward, then aged 42, were both charged with fraud by abuse of position.

The charge read that between April 1, 2014 and December 1, 2018, they allegedly committed fraud while acting in a position of manager (Stephens) and freeholder (Ward) of Bowles House, Falmouth, in which they were expected to safeguard, not act against, the financial interests of the leaseholders of Bowles House.

It is alleged in the charge that they dishonestly abused their positions intending to make a gain, by misusing insurance settlement payments received from Zurich Insurance, which were intended for building repairs.

Both Stephens, of Trerice, St Dennis and Ward, of St Teath, Delabole, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

A trial was due to take place in November last year, but was subsequently delayed.

A new trial date has now been set for October this year, with the hearing expected to last three weeks.

The flats in Clare Terrace were converted in 2007 from the former Clare Terrace School for girls, latterly known as the Falmouth-Penryn Adult Education Centre.

The building was renamed Bowles House in honour of Mrs F J Bowles, who ceremonially laid the still visible memorial stone on February 5, 1907.