Rogue car salesman jailed after fleecing multi-millionaire Jaguar enthusiast

A multi-millionaire Jaguar vehicle enthusiast who owns the former home of the company’s founder was fleeced by a car salesman who sold him a rare E-Type sports car, a court heard.

Scott Shearman paid almost £130,000 to buy the vehicle from Scott Nicolson’s company and to have it restored.

The car was manufactured in 1961, the first year that Jaguar produced the E-Type, and was to be part of a display Mr Shearman planned to be housed at Wappenbury Hall in Warwickshire, which was the former long-time home of Sir William Lyons who founded Jaguar Cars in 1935.

The vehicle was one of 30 bought by Mr Shearman but within weeks of him paying for the vehicle Nicolson’s Barbary Hill Ltd company went into administration and he lost out heavily.

Joey Kwong, prosecuting, told Lincoln Crown Court: “The business would source, purchase and restore classic Jaguar motor vehicles for their customers including sourcing and importing from the United States. Nicolson would have custody and possession of the cars while their owners paid him to restore their vehicles.

“Nicolson also employed William Haynes who oversaw the workshop where the work was carried out. William Haynes was the grandson of Bill Haynes and had intimate knowledge of Jaguar vehicles.

“His employment no doubt led Jaguar aficionados to take their custom to Barbary Hill. Mr Haynes had no involvement in the finances of the company and was unaware of the offending.

“The company fell into financial difficulties because Nicolson sourced a vehicle that was virtually scrap. The customer refused to pay leading to cash flow problems.”

Mr Kwong continued: “Scott Shearman, an Australian citizen, bought Wappenbury Hall in Warwickshire which was the long-time home of Sir William Lyons the founder of Jaguar cars.

“Mr Shearman had already purchased 30 classic cars for restoration. He was recommended to Nicolson because William Haynes was the grandson of Jaguar’s long-time chief engineer.”

Mr Kwong said that Nicolson sourced a rare 1961 Jaguar E-Type from the USA which Mr Shearman paid £129,993 for in October 2018 only for Barbary Hill to go into administration just weeks later.

Mr Kwong said: “The financial impact has been a sore point as the cars he was buying would have been renovated. He was out of pocket by at least £150,000.

“He details how he would have put money into the British economy. It would have benefitted the Jaguar community and the British economy as a whole. It would have benefitted the Jaguar Car Club members and enthusiasts around the world as well as himself.”

Another client bought nine Jaguars from Barbary Hill as an investment for his pension. He paid £98,150 to buy one of the vehicles and have it restored but Nicolson subsequently sold the car without permission and it was exported to Portugal.

A third client handed over a £50,000 deposit for the purchase and restoration of a classic Jaguar which was intended as a Christmas present. He received photos showing how the car was being restored but, in the weeks before Barbary Hill went under, he struggled to make contact with Nicolson.

“He was initially overjoyed with the purchase but has been let down.

“The defendant gave a plethora of excuses why he could not talk including that he was at a funeral and that he had lost his voice. Eventually he received notification from the administrators of the situation. At all times the vehicle belonged to Stephen Owens and Nicolson never had the opportunity to sell it to Mr Simon Paris.”

Nicolson, who lives between Lincoln and Newark, also persuaded DPM Finance Ltd, a small investment company, to spend £100,000 on a classic car which was to be “flipped” within three months for a quick profit. Nicolson lied when the finance company began asking for their money and they lost their cash causing a rift amongst the directors.

Nicolson’s world eventually came crashing down in early December 2018 when Barbary Hill went into administration.

The subsequent investigation revealed that Nicolson had conned clients who handed over money thinking they were buying a historic Jaguar and paying for its restoration.

To maintain the scam Nicolson sent regular updates to clients showing the progress being made on the restoration of the vehicles they were paying for. But often the vehicles were not Nicolson’s to sell and in reality belonged to other clients.

It was only after Barbary Hill went into administration that Nicolson’s customers discovered the true situation.

Scott Nicolson, 45, of Warren Lane, Witham St Hughs, admitted two charges of theft and two charges of fraud between November 2017 and November 2018.

He was jailed for three years and seven months. His benefit from crime was assessed at £409,146, but he was ruled to have no available assets and was ordered to pay a nominal sum of £1 under the Proceeds of Crime Act meaning his victims will receive no compensation.

Judge Simon Hirst, passing sentence, told him: “The reason for these offences is that you made a bad business decision and you were trying to repair the loss.

“That is of little comfort to those you have stolen from and defrauded. It is incredibly unfortunate that those who have lost money cannot be repaid.”

Neil Sands, in mitigation, said Nicolson’s problems began when he paid a large amount of money for what he believed was a classic vehicle only to discover it was three different cars in one and essentially worthless.

“Those who have known him for many years have been taken aback at how he has got himself into this situation.

“The money has not gone on a luxury lifestyle. He lives in a rented house. He doesn’t have luxury foreign holidays, purchase a speed boat or anything like that.

“He is by trade a car salesman. Over the years he became aware that Jaguar E-Type vehicles had considerable value and he set up a legitimate business to source, purchase and restore vehicles for clients.”