Finance probe into man who wrecked Derby Hippodrome

24th February 2010

A probe into the finances of the owner of the historic Hippodrome is being carried out before he is sentenced for damaging it. Christopher Anthony yesterday pleaded guilty at Derby Crown Court to ordering work to be carried out to the former theatre. But prosecutors on behalf of Derby City Council accepted that the destruction, which happened on March 28, 2008, had not been caused deliberately by Anthony and was instead a “botched job”.

Judge David Pugsley said that if it had been proven that Anthony had deliberately caused damage to the building for financial gain, he would have not hesitated in imposing a prison sentence. However, he had ruled out a custodial sentence because Anthony was “not a crook”. He was therefore considering a fine or community punishment instead.

Judge Pugsley said: “You went about it as a builder’s answer to a bull in a China shop but it is not suggested you have financially benefited from it.” Before handing out a sentence, Judge Pugsley said he wanted more information about the London developer’s finances after it was revealed in court Anthony owed money to creditors and had reached an agreement on how he would pay them back.

And the judge said he wanted the council to provide an estimate of the value of the Hippodrome. Andrew McGee, in mitigation on behalf of Anthony, stated it was valued at £500,000 as it was or £1.3m if a pending planning application to turn it into a multi-storey car park was granted.

He added that Anthony had spent £1.2m on buying and carrying out work to the building. Ordering a pre-sentence report, Judge Pugsley told Anthony: “I just need to know more about your finances, I need to know more about you. This is not a case for picking a figure out of the air.”

Mr McGee told the court he did not feel a fine above four figures would be appropriate and urged a lesser fine to be imposed. After the court case, Anthony said he was glad it had been stated that he had not set out to damage the building. He said: “Everyone said I’d demolished the building on purpose. ” I always said I never had and now that’s been agreed.” Anthony had been accused of damaging the listed building along with a contractor, Wayne Watson.

The council offered no evidence in relation to Mr Watson, of College Street, Nottingham, and the charges against him were dismissed. After the hearing, Anthony said he was seeking legal advice about the competency of several contractors he employed, and considering whether to take action against organisations for defamation of character for stating he had “vandalised” the building.

Derby City Council heralded Anthony’s guilty plea as a success after he admitted the machinery used to carry out work on the roof was inappropriate and the method for carrying out the work had not been agreed with the authority. Council leader Hilary Jones said: “It has now been almost two years since the offence was committed and we realise this has been a frustrating time for the public and other interested parties. But the legal processes involved have been complex, time-consuming and costly.

“However, the verdict at court is evidence that the council was right and justified in pursuing our prosecution of Mr Anthony. During this time, the council has taken legal steps to protect the building including obtaining an injunction against Mr Anthony preventing him from demolishing it, and carrying out urgent works to protect it. All of this has involved the council in significant costs and we are taking steps to recover the costs from Mr Anthony.”

In court, Garrett Byrne, prosecuting, said the council would be making an application for costs of £17,000.

Anthony faced a single charge that he “did execute, or cause to be executed, without authorisation, works for the demolition or alteration of a listed building… in a manner that affected its character as a building of special architectural or historical interest, namely by demolishing part of the roof of the building’’.

Source: Derby Evening News