Man who posed as pilot in £1.4m bogus business scam jailed

A man who posed as a pilot amid a £1.4m bogus business scam has been jailed for 42 months.

William Campbell, 41, created fake companies to hire sports cars and buy goods, which he then kept for himself.

Campbell pretended to be four people, including a lawyer and an airline pilot, between November 2015 and April 2017.

Campbell, of Glasgow’s Knightswood, was found guilty to a string of fraud charges amounting to £1,415,062.83.

He had initially lodged a special defence of incrimination against a Brian Docherty and Declan Kearney.

The pair were jailed in 2025 for a total of four years for their part in the same fraud.

Docherty, of Cumbernauld, pleaded guilty to a string of fraud charges amounting to £303,500.

Kearney, of Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, admitted frauds totalling £247,500.

Their charges spanned from August 2015 to January 2018.

Glasgow Sheriff Court previously heard that Campbell formed a number of companies using stolen details of genuine people.

This included a retired solicitor and pilot.

Campbell also assumed the identity of two other men.

Campbell started firms MAZ Joinery, Henry’s Cleaning Angels, Infiniti Contracts, PMK Environmental and Merrylee Furnishers.

Arrangements would be made for credit facilities and or hire of materials and vehicles.

False documents would be created in the names of genuine people and provided to these companies.

Campbell was able to secure £100,000 of Audi cars from a fleet management company.

He also took £175,000 of vehicles from a separate vehicle business, claiming to be a solicitor, who was supposedly a director of a cleaning firm.

Campbell went on to take 12 cars to the value of £360,000 while using the pilot’s name.

Campbell further stole £504,000 of tools and plant equipment. A huge £165,000 of fuel was not paid for.

Explaining how the crimes were uncovered, Mr Watson said: “The police contacted [one victim] in 2015 regarding him being a director of a cleaning company, which was his first indication that his identity was being used.

“Around this time, he was the legitimate director of ten companies. He contacted Companies House to be removed as the director of the cleaning company.

“[The pilot] became aware of his identity being misused when Mercedes sent him a letter in 2016 saying he missed payments for a vehicle.”

Campbell was caught after police traced him to a garage where seven fuel cards used in the fraud were found in the vehicle.

A mobile phone was seized whose messages contained mention of “William” and “Billy” as the receiver.

The phone also had contacts, which included the office number for Henry’s Cleaning Angels.

In his closing speech to the jury, Mr Watson said: “This was a large sophisticated scheme and the sheer size and number of different companies is daunting.

“It would be difficult to sit and consider all of that evidence, however, when it comes to Mr Campbell it is clear.

“He was involved in this scheme and I say with the evidence you can come to that conclusion.”

Deirdre Flanigan, defending, told the sentencing that her client, who is a dad and employed as a courier, continues to profess his innocence.

When jailing Campbell, Sheriff Owen Mullan said: “There were numerous victims of your crimes.

“You continue to deny your guilt, however, you will understand I have to sentence on the basis of the jury’s verdict.

“The fraud you undertook was premeditated, calculated and on occasion, brazen.

“You have previous convictions for dishonesty and violence and have been in custody before.

“Given the seriousness of the offences, I do not consider there is an alternative to custody.”