Matthew Hill and Richard Walker (Image: Gwent Police)
Last Updated: 2 minutes ago
Two men who scammed a leading Welsh food production company out of nearly £1 million through a sophisticated six-year fraud are now behind bars.
Matthew Hill, 38, and Richard Walker, 64, targeted Ebbw Vale-based Zorba Delicacies Ltd, defrauding the firm of around £900,000 between February 2018 and January 2024.
How the scam worked
Cardiff Crown Court heard that Hill, who worked as a warehouse manager and later purchasing manager at Zorba, teamed up with Walker, who owned a printing firm that supplied the company.
Prosecutor Martha Smith-Higgins explained the pair hatched a plan to generate fake orders, delivery notes and invoices, funnelling hundreds of thousands of pounds out of the business.
Impact on the company
Zorba Delicacies, which specialises in dips and deli fillers and is the home of The Real Soup Company, had employed 450 people and faced financial ruin as a result of the fraud. The firm was likely saved from insolvency after being taken over by the Compleat Food Group in February 2024.
Miss Smith-Higgins said: “Both defendants abused their positions of power or trust. The offending was sophisticated and sustained over a considerable period of time.”
Thomas Riley, the company’s chief financial officer, spoke of the devastating toll in a victim impact statement, describing how the crime had caused “personal distress to staff” who had feared losing their livelihoods.
He added of Hill: “His actions were deliberate and calculating. He had a complete disregard of the devastating effects on the business.”
The defendants
Hill, of McLaren Cottages, Abertysswg, Caerphilly, pleaded guilty to fraud and possession of criminal property totalling £935,269.20. Walker, of Main Street, Weston, Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, also admitted fraud.
Leah Pollard, representing Hill, told the court her client was a man of previous good character with no convictions. The court heard his mother was terminally ill at the time of his offending and that he was remorseful.
Andrew Jebb, for Walker, said: “He is deeply ashamed of his behaviour. These are not crocodile tears at being in court. It has come as a terrible shock to his family and friends. His wife refers to being heartbroken as to what has happened.”
Walker, a grandfather who had recently been working as a delivery driver since his business folded, also had no previous convictions.
Sentencing
Judge Paul Hobson told the pair: “Zorba made overpayments totalling hundreds of thousands of pounds. It was money it could ill-afford to lose.”
Hill and Walker were each jailed for four years. They will serve half their sentences in custody before being released on licence.
Both are set to face a proceeds of crime hearing on July 10 later this year.
