Stuart Garner, the former owner of Norton, who we have written about regarding this case before, is now facing a custodial sentence of up to two years over pension fraud. Garner bought Norton in 2008 and then proceeded to invest the entire pension pots of the company pension holders back into the company – for the whole story check out our previous article. Pension holders who tried to get their money back faced repeated refusals to return their money and in 2020 The Guardian Newspaper and ITV News investigated the situation and uncovered possible fraud.

Now, former Norton CEO Garner is facing a prison sentence after recently pleading guilty in court to illegally investing millions of pounds of people's money back into his own business. Garner made the guilty plea in relation to three charges relating to the mismanagement of pension schemes which totalled 227 members and of which he was the sole trustee.
Garner now has to wait until February the 28th to see what his sentence will be, the judge has made it clear that he may face a prison term of up to two years.
The District Judge on the case Jonatthan Taafe said that the gravity of the case 'Clearly crosses the custodial threshold' so it is now a question of waiting to see if Garner will actually go to jail or face unlimited fines instead.

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