Drug dealing fraudster who hid £1.2million mansion and expensive art collection from police is jailed for six years
Alan Yeomans claimed he lived in a shed and all he owned was £300 of furniture and a £30 watch
A drug dealing fraudster pretended he was bankrupt while living in a £1.2million manor with a hidden art and antique collection worth £83,000.
Alan Yeomans, 61, of Yeaveley, Derbyshire, declared himself bankrupt telling officials he lived in a shed and all he owned was £300 of furniture and a £30 watch.
But the disgraced businessman wore a £10,000 Rolex and lived in a six-bedroom converted barn filled with antiques and oil paintings hidden behind a secret door.
Yeomans was jailed for six and a half years for nine charges relating to the production and supply of cannabis, stealing electricity, concealing criminal property and failing to disclose bankruptcy.
Police searches also revealed an extensive cannabis growing operation, which was illegally tapped into the power grid.
Investigations also revealed that he illegally ran three companies so he could easily launder £2.2 million from proceeds of growing, and dealing the drug.
Derby Crown Court heard of how Yeoman built his secret drug lair in his mum’s back garden in 2002, hanging a sign on the gate reading ‘Shedley Manor’.
Sentencing Judge Nirmal Shant said Yeomans was "a liar, a money launderer and someone involved in the production of drugs".
Glenn Wicks who led the investigation on behalf of the Department of Business, Innovation and Kills slammed Yeomans saying: "He is a fraudster, a liar and a drugs dealer who very cynically made himself bankrupt and then continued to act unlawfully on the management of three companies.
"What surprised me when I went into Shedley Manor was that someone built a six-bedroom manor house in the Peak District and filled it with fine art and antiques and the authorities didn't know anything about it.”
Sergeant Jon Lowes, of Derbyshire Police, said: “When we raided the property, we were amazed to find it was filled with antiques, oil paintings and valuable jewellery.
“Behind an oil painting was a secret door that hinged away from the wall to reveal a secret room, planned and built by Alan Yeomans, which had been used to grow cannabis and there was a separate room which revealed a very professional and sophisticated cannabis production line.
“He powered all of this by abstracting electricity from a source near his house in a very crude fashion, which was exceptionally dangerous and could very well have killed him.
“Faced with the evidence we gathered during the operation, Alan Yeomans had no choice but to plead guilty to this wide variety of offences."