Brophy, who was given the £70,000 per year job at the Millennium Dome in 1998 despite his lack of experience, and used his position to award contracts to Pro Design - a company he had set up with his mother Ruth Barclay and his friend David Gordon as directors. £3.9m of lighting contracts were awarded to Pro Design - £2.8m of which was paid to the company before the fraud was uncovered. Equipment was rented by Pro Design from another lighting company and then hired out to the Dome at hugely inflated rates. In all, the investigation found that Brophy stole a total of £1.1m from the NMEC. During the trial, it was also found that that Pro Design had been set up by Brophy using false signatures, and fake client references. Brophy laundered the money paid to Pro Design through a series of off-shore bank accounts, and used the proceeds to fund a lavish lifestyle - including the purchase of a yacht and helicopter.
Brophy pleaded guilty to the charges in February this year at Southwark Crown Court, and also pleaded guilty to furnishing false information and removing the proceeds of crime from the UK. At a separate hearing Gordon pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the NMEC and fraudulent trading.
(Lee Baldock)
