Magistrate-designate Ian Christmas (pictured, right, with his lawyer) appeared before the Royal Court yesterday along with co-defendants John Lewis, Russell Foot and James Cameron, who are together accused of fraud worth almost £1.5 million.
They deny a total of 27 charges of misleading ‘financially unsophisticated’ Islanders over property investments in Florida and Colorado between 2004 and 2008.
Crown Advocate Matthew Jowitt, prosecuting, told the court – which was sitting in the Magistrate’s Court – that documents found during a police raid of Mr Christmas’s home were ‘very revealing about his state of mind’ during those four years.
Among the papers was a checklist of Mr Christmas’s goals, which included buying a chalet in the Alps and reaching his ‘freedom figure’ of £1.5 million, which would enable him to walk away from life as a Magistrate.
• See today’s JEP for full report
