The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
A pensioner living on benefits today (Friday) described how she lost £2,000 after becoming friends with a Spalding man and investing in a lottery syndicate.
Christopher Toynton, 73, of Horseshoe Road, Spalding, is on trial at Lincoln Crown Court. He denies 12 fraud charges and contravening a general prohibition on carrying out a regulated activity.
The prosecution claim Toynton was the manager and sole company director of the Lottery Syndicate Club Ltd, which operated in the town and received funds “just shy” of £4million.
It is alleged Toynton was involved in the scheme, along with trader Ross Gibson, 27, who has pleaded guilty to his role.
A third man, Philip Cavener, 61, is on trial alongside Toynton.
Giving evidence Eileen Beaumont described how she and her husband David became friends with Chris Toynton after meeting during a holiday to Tenerife in 2007.
Mrs Beaumont said: “He told us he had a house, tennis courts, a big garden, so we presumed he was very wealthy.
“But he was very tight with his money. Sometimes very wealthy people can be tight with their money so we didn’t know if he was wealthy or not.”
Mrs Beaumont said they met Mr Toynton during other holidays to Tenerife and then became friends, visiting him in the UK
“We trusted him completely, we had no reason not to,” Mrs Beaumont said.
The jury heard Mrs Beaumont and her husband made an impromptu visit to Mr Toynton’s Spalding home in November 2018 when she noticed changes to his house.
“He told us he was a millionaire and that he was on his way to making his second million. The front of his house had been done up,” Mrs Beaumont said.
“It was how he’d made his money through spread betting, it was linked to the lottery syndicate scheme, through a young man called Ross.”
Mrs Beaumont described how Toynton then explained how another man in his garden had given him £2,000 to invest in the scheme.
“He said it doubled every week so if we invested £2,000 in a year it would be £64,000,” Mrs Beaumont added.
“He said there was a man from CID, a lawyer, other people from various walks of life.”
Mrs Beaumont explained further: “We were quite strapped for money because David had a stroke in 2013.”
Mrs Beaumont said Toynton explained that the scheme had been successful for a year, and they agreed to invest £2,000 by paying that sum into a bank account and then setting up a monthly direct debit of £11.25 into the lottery scheme.
The jury heard Mrs Beaumont was told by Mr Toynton that only part of the sum would be invested and that she could make withdrawals at any time.
“We didn’t think that there would be any risk,” Mrs Beaumont told the jury. “We both thought of it as an investment.”
Mrs Beaumont said once the payment was made she never received any paperwork from Mr Toynton.
The couple eventually decided to ask for their initial £2,000 investment back after an exchange of text messages with Mr Toynton, the jury heard.
Asked by prosecutor Julian Jones if she ever received the £2,000 back, Mrs Beaumont replied: “Never.”
Mrs Beaumont said Mr Toynton eventually offered to sell one of his cars.
“I knew he had a Maserati,” Mrs Beaumont added.
Mr Toynton eventually admitted trading had been suspended after Barclays Bank became suspicious of activity, Mrs Beaumont added.
Mrs Beaumont said Mr Toynton told her that at the time there was still £20million on the trading platform, and £1million in Ross Gibson’s bank account.
Under cross-examination Mrs Beaumont admitted her husband had contacted to Mr Toynton to get the money back “to save his marriage.”
The defence maintain the couple were told by Mr Toynton that it was “a punt” and involved a gamble with a trader who was spread betting.
“I don’t think we gave it that much thought what spread betting was,” Mrs Beaumont admitted.
She denied that they simply wanted to make money and ignored warnings from Mr Toynton that they could lose money.
The jury were told the scheme eventually collapsed due to insufficient funds, and Lincolnshire Police began an investigation.
Mr Jones likened it to a Ponzi or Pyramid scheme where investors were paid out from new members joining the syndicate.
Toynton denied any criminality when he was interviewed by police, and Cavener also denied any fraudulent activity.
Cavener, 61, of Douglas Road, Bedford, denies one offence of contravention of the general prohibition on carrying out a regulated activity.
Gibson, 27, of Eve Lane, Upper Gornal, Dudley, has already pleaded guilty to three offences on dates between 1 November 2017 and 31 March 2019.
He will be sentenced at the conclusion of the current trial after he admitted two charges of fraud and one offence of contravention of the general prohibition on carrying out a regulated activity.
The trial continues
