Wife 'dumps' stroke-victim conman at Gatwick then jets back to Spain

Published on Thursday 18 December 2008 21:10

A WHEELCHAIR-BOUND conman who was allegedly dumped at Gatwick Airport by his wife before she flew back to their Spanish bolthole was spared a jail sentence yesterday.

It is believed his wife Pamela had got fed up with caring for David Hubbard-Beale, 55, following his severe stroke and flew him home to "face the music".

He was handed a 21-month suspended sentence because the judge did not believe the prison had adequate enough medical facilities to look after him.

Hubbard-Beale went on-the-run with his wife after pleading guilty to a string of fraud and deception offences to fund his addiction to spread-bet gambling. He was released on bail before sentencing and promptly flew to Spain, in December 2003.

It was only when his wife turned up at Gatwick Airport on 30 July this year that he was arrested, after she allegedly wheeled him over to customs officials and told them: "He's a wanted man. Take him away."

The stroke he suffered earlier this year had left him in a "pitiful state". He is paralysed down one side of his body, incontinent and unable to communicate properly, and will remain dependent on others for the rest of his life.

The judge, Cedric Joseph, sitting at Hove Crown Court, yesterday told Hubbard-Beale, 55: "What you did was thoroughly dishonest and devious. You knew that perfectly well of course, and you're a man who has shown himself to be dishonest in the past.

"If it were not for the state of your health I would have absolutely no hesitation sending you straight to prison today. But it's unlikely that prison hospital could provide reasonable facilities for you.

"Nobody would wish upon you a stroke and the consequences of that stroke but I have, in deciding your sentence, more regard to the difficulties you would cause to the prison service than sympathy for you.

"There are exceptional circumstances here. But it's an aggravating factor that having pleaded guilty, you were not man enough to face up to the punishment coming your way. You ran off in a cowardly way to Spain rather than face the music."

The court heard that in November 2003, Hubbard-Beale pleaded guilty to a string of fraud and deception offences, having conned 23,000 out of the finance companies Spreadex, Associates Ltd and IFX. The case followed a two-year probe by the Department of Trade and Industry, after Hubbard-Beale – who is now in a care home provided by social services – dishonestly obtained the funds between October 2000 and December 2001.

Robert Hall, prosecuting, said: "The defendant attended the DTI offices by appointment and said he had become addicted to spread-betting and would do anything to get his hands on money."

The court also heard that the accused – who wailed loudly throughout the sentence hearing – was convicted of seven counts of theft at Nottingham crown court in 1998 – as well as for a "minor" matter of dishonesty in the 1970s.

The whereabouts of his wife – who it is claimed handed him to shocked customs officials before disappearing back to Spain on 30 July – remains a mystery.

Staff at Gatwick called police, who arrested Hubbard-Beale and took him to Crawley police station. However, because of his condition, police phoned judge Richard Brown QC at home at 10pm so he could decide what to do with him.

He was then bailed to a nearby nursing home.

Nicola Shannon, defending, said: "His return to the UK came rather abruptly, when he was brought to Gatwick by his wife and effectively abandoned by her.

"Although his condition has improved significantly, the prognosis that he will get any better is not optimistic."

Hubbard-Beale expressed no remorse for his crimes and just muttered: "I'm really sick."