Bankrupt Businessman Jailed After Hiding £1.2m Mansion Inside A Shed
A businessman who built a £1.2m six-bedroomed mansion then hid it in a farm shed has been jailed.
Alan Yeomans, 61, declared himself bankrupt but ran three companies to launder money from growing and dealing cannabis.
Bankrupt - Alan Yeomans claimed he had just £300 of furniture and a watch to his name
The businessman told officials he was living in a shed in his mother’s garden and owned just £300 worth of furniture and a £30 watch.
But in reality, he had hidden the six-bedroomed Shedley Manor with green cladding.
Hidden - The six-bedroomed mansion was hidden inside a farm shed
When police raided the property they discovered an Aladdin’s cave including a £10,000 Rolex watch and antiques and oil paintings worth around £83,250, as well as designer shoes and cannabis plants stashed in a secret room behind an oil painting of Elizabethan statesman Robert Cecil.
An outbuilding at the property in Yeaveley, near Ashbourne, Derbyshire, was also used as a cannabis factory.
Aladdin’s Cave - the mansion was full of antiques and oil paintings worth £83,000
Yeomans had also illegally run three companies as a front to launder £2.2m from growing and dealing cannabis.
He was jailed for six-and-a-half years at Derby Crown Court on Friday after admitting failing to disclose property when bankrupt; three counts of taking part in or being concerned in the formation or management of a company; money laundering; possessing a prohibited weapon (CS gas canister); producing cannabis; and illegally abstracting electricity.
After the case Glenn Wicks, who led the investigation for Derbyshire Police, said it was a “very intricate, sophisticated set-up”.
He said: “He is a fraudster, a liar and a drugs dealer who very cynically made himself bankrupt and then continued to act unlawfully on the management of three companies.
"What surprised me when I went into Shedley Manor was that someone built a six-bedroom manor house in the Peak District and filled it with fine art and antiques and the authorities didn’t know anything about it.”
Sergeant Jon Lowes added: “When we raided the property, we were amazed to find it was filled with antiques, oil paintings and valuable jewellery.
"Behind an oil painting was a secret door that hinged away from the wall to reveal a secret room, planned and built by Alan Yeomans, which had been used to grow cannabis and there was a separate room which revealed a very professional and sophisticated cannabis production line.”
(Pictures:SWNS)
