A married couple have been sentenced after going on family holidays abroad with money stolen from celebrity chef Stephen Terry.
Nicola Nightingale, 48, and Simon Nightingale, 50, took £150,000 from the Great British Menu chef while working at his popular restaurant The Hardwick, in Abergavenny, Wales, a court heard. Mr Terry, who was Gordon Ramsey’s best man, opened the award-winning gastropub in 2005 and it has since become one of the most iconic restaurants in the country.
The couple were handed two-year suspended sentences at Cardiff Crown Court today (May 22). The court heard how Mrs Nightingale, who was employed as Mr Terry's office administrator between February 2018 and March 2020, had issues with alcoholism and mental health and used the money to fund her spending addiction.
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Across a two-year period, the mother-of-four redirected almost £47,000 into her husband's bank account, made direct payments of more than £50,000 into her own account, inflated her wages by £6,000 and made additional payments to herself disguised as paid wages of £47,000. In total, the amount stolen from the restaurant was £150,234.62.
Prosecutor Tom Roberts said: “Nicola Nightingale began working there [The Hardwick] on February 13 2018 and was responsible for managing the business’s accounts and finances. In March of 2020, as the Covid lockdown came into effect, Mr Terry became suspicious of her behaviour.
“He and his wife contacted HSBC and found there were payments made directly to Mrs Nightingale outside the normal payment structure amounting at that stage to about £27,000.”
Mr Roberts said Mr Terry attempted to contact the couple to get the login details for their business accounts but they did not respond. On the next day, Mrs Nightingale resigned via email which sparked Mr Terry to contact Gwent Police, starting an investigation.
“She left the restaurant owing suppliers £70,000 and £6,000 in business rates,” Mr Roberts continued. "She also left the company owing £110,000 in PAYE and VAT, and she left the pension fund with a £10,000 shortfall.
“She’d given the impression that the business was running smoothly but she had in fact run it into significant debt by extracting money from it for herself.”
During Mr Nightingale’s trial in February this year it was disclosed that part of the money had been spent on a number of foreign holidays. The couple splashed out on trips to Eurodisney, Disney World Florida, France and Morocco using the stolen cash.
In a victim impact statement written in June 2020 and read to the court, Mr Terry said the fraud was “potentially devastating” to his business.
He said: “Over the past 15 years I’ve worked extremely hard to build a successful business in the heartland and throughout this time I’ve worked well with suppliers and built strong working relationships. The impact of being defrauded of such a significant amount of money and having large outstanding payments to my suppliers is potentially devastating.
"There’s no doubt damage to my reputation and working relationships. Had it not been for the unprecedented pandemic, that is Covid-19, I’m not certain that I would have been aware of the fraud. And I believe that the business would not have survived this financial loss.”
Mr Terry said he had since had to take out loans to pay back his suppliers and employees.
Susan Ferrier, defending Mrs Nightingale, said her client had an “extreme problem with alcoholism and mental health” and that those problems, with previous marriage troubles and losing her youngest brother, caused her to become addicted to buying things as a means of coping. Ms Ferrier said Mrs Nightingale was “shocked” at and “bitterly regretted” the amount she had stolen, which accumulated over time, and is “haunted” by the impact of her actions on others.
She said Mrs Nightingale, now a grandmother, was at low risk of reoffending and raised concerns about how she would cope in prison given her “fragile” state. The court heard Mrs Nightingale had recently tried twice to take her own life.
Mr Nightingale’s defence, led by Martin Taylor, said the defendant accepted his “negligence” and had “massive regret for allowing this situation to have arisen”. Mr Taylor said Mr Nightingale was left having to “carry the family”, including caring for their two youngest children, aged 10 and 12, due to his wife’s difficulties.
Recorder Judge Barry Clarke sentenced Mrs Nightingale, who pleaded guilty to fraud, and Mr Nightingale, who was convicted of possession of criminal property after a trial, to a two-year suspended sentence and ordered both to complete 100 hours of unpaid work.
Judge Clarke said sending both defendants to prison would have had a “lasting, negative impact on them [the children] and upon their development”.
Speaking after the hearing, Mr Terry, who had attended court with his wife Joanna and a number of employees, said he was “gobsmacked” the pair had not gone to prison. He told the South Wales Argus: “I’m very disappointed if I’m honest. I’m absolutely shocked she didn’t go to prison. What message does this send out about white collar crime? It says white collar crime pays. Just make sure you’ve got kids.”
He added: “We heard of what the impact of custody might have been on their children been but what about our family? My wife’s mother was diagnosed with cancer and passed away during this. Everything just seems to be in their favour.
“We could have lost our business and our house and we’ve only survived by the skin of our teeth. I was adamant she was going to prison today. I am absolutely gobsmacked.”
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