Rogue trader jailed for scamming north-east farming community out of cash and machinery

Press and Journal

a day ago

A conman who duped four traders out of £630,000 has been jailed for five years.
Once a legitimate trader, Aberdeen-based Barry Mackland went rogue – and defrauded small companies by spinning a web of lies and deceit.
Mackland, 50, panicked when his farming machinery supply firm hit the rocks and he fell into debt – so he started to take money from Peter to pay Paul.
That fraud succeeded for a while – until his victims began to talk to each other and the scam came crashing down.
Prosecutors are now set to launch an action against Mackland under the Proceeds of Crime Act in a bid to recover his ill-gotten gains.
That will mean a forensic accountant will pore over Mackland's finances and, if they find funds linked to his crime, it can be recovered.
His lawyer David Moggach told the High Court in Glasgow today: 'He still maintains the position that he had at trial.'
The KC stated the financial situation at the time for Mackland had 'got worse' and that he had 'struggled to keep his head above water'.
Lord Harrower said Mackland's own business had involved sourcing and supplying plant equipment in the UK and what he described as 'Europe-wide'.
Sentencing, the judge added: 'You were not a con-man, who tricks an unsuspecting stranger out of his money and is never seen again.
'Most of your customers had dealt with you over many years.
'These dealings were based almost entirely on trust. For many years, your business appeared to flourish.
'However, when things started to go wrong, as they did in the Spring of 2022, your wheeling and dealing exposed your customers to unacceptable levels of risk.
'You fraudulently exploited your customers' goodwill in an increasingly desperate attempt to keep your business going.'
Speaking after Mackland was jailed at the High Court in Glasgow earlier today, one Crown Office boss had a message for other con artists.
'Fraud is not a victimless crime. It strikes at and erodes the basis of trust upon which all businesses rightly depend. We take such criminality very seriously' said the Crown's Major Crime lead Moira Orr.
She added: 'Businesses and individuals suffered considerable financial harm as a consequence of Barry Mackland's crimes.
'But, thanks to partnership working between Police Scotland and the Crown Office and the Procurator Fiscal Service, he has been brought to account for his crimes.
'As prosecutors, we are wholly committed to tackling financial crime of this kind.'
We reported in July how Mackland had been a respected trader of farming machinery and vehicles throughout the north-east and even in other parts of Scotland, and England – until his finances deteriorated.
The 50-year-old then put into motion a slapdash system of grabbing cash and equipment to keep debtors from the door – until his luck finally ran out.
Dozens of people, the majority of whom are based in the north-east, claimed Mackland, of Rosehill Drive, Aberdeen, duped them out of cash and so they reported allegations to police.
Those people making the allegations were from farming communities in Aberdeenshire as well as Angus, Dumfries, Cumbria, Lincolnshire and even Denmark.
Eleven of those allegations made it to court, with claims that Mackland defrauded them out of a total of £4.3 million.
However, after a trial, Mackland was cleared of seven charges.
But the jury found him guilty of three frauds and one theft, totalling £630,000.
After the trial, we spoke to scores of north-east traders who told us that Mackland's crimes were a 'massive wake-up call'.
The scammer's actions led the region's farmers and their suppliers to overhaul how they do business.
Mackland's offending began in February 2022 when he was negotiating to buy two tractors from a Forfar-based firm named Barctrac Ltd.
The fraudster told victim Steven Barclay, of Barctrac, that he would pay for the vehicles – but instead went to the firm's yard at night and took them without paying.
That left Barctrac bosses baffled and enraged.
They said that, when Mackland contacted them later, he assured them he would pay for the vehicles.
But he never did – instead, he sold them to someone else without Barctrac's consent.
As a result of this fraud, Barctrac was deprived of £83,100 – the value of the vehicles.
As all that was going on, between February and May 2022, Mackland was duping other businesses out of funds elsewhere.
Mackland had been a legitimate customer of another Forfar-based firm, Gammie's Groundcare, for about four years.
Up until the spring of 2022, he had bought machinery from the company and there had been no problems, but then everything changed.
In March 2022, Mackland went to Gammie's base in Station Yard, Carseview Road, and gave them two cheques to pay for machinery.
In the days that followed, Gammie's staff went to the bank to cash the cheques – but they bounced.
According to Gammie's boss Leslie Gammie, Mackland told them he was having cashflow problems, but the issue would be resolved within days.
Mr Gammie added: 'He gave us more cheques to cash but after you've been to the bank and failed with two, you're not going to try more. He was stringing us along.'
In all, Mackland's fraud deprived Gammie's out of £179,295.
And during the same period, Mackland was scamming yet another victim – this time Stonehaven-based machinery firm DM Forklifts.
The firm's boss, Derek Meston, had agreed to sell Mackland some machinery, and he provided it in exchange for cheques.
But when Mr Meston tried to cash the cheques, they bounced.
Of all four victims, Mr Meston was hit hardest.
He suffered a loss of £320,400.
By summer 2022, Mackland had committed so much fraud that word had started to spread among the north-east farming community that he was not a man to be trusted.
It was at that point the scammer turned his attentions further afield.
His next – and final – target was a trader based in Grantham, Lincolnshire.
In June 2022, Mackland asked Hannah Setchfield, of RC Setchfield Ltd, if she wanted to buy a JCB Telehandler.
But the vehicle didn't belong to him, so he had no right to sell it.
Ms Setchfield paid £52,200 for the JCB.
During the trial, Mackland's lawyer, David Moggach KC, claimed he sustained debts that he could not pay.
Mr Moggach added: 'Fraud does not extend to a simple failure to pay your debts.'
Nevertheless, a jury found Mackland guilty of three frauds and one theft.
Steven Barclay and Derek Meston did not wish to comment.
Leslie Gammie told us: 'It's a strange one because we did three or four years of legitimate trade with Mackland before all this happened.
'I would say overall we made a profit from him, but equally, there's a lot you can do with almost £180,000, so it was frustrating to lose that.
'We're in a fortunate position that we were able to absorb that loss though many others wouldn't have been able to.
'Mackland isn't a flash guy. I never got the impression he was spending all this money on flash cars or fancy holidays.
'He was also wanting the next deal.'