A FORMER restauranteur – already jailed for 15 years for a string of sexual offences – faked documents and emails to con two couples out of a total of £800,000, which he spent on a “lavish” lifestyle, the Royal Court has heard.
Gavin Neil Roberts (46) was sentenced to a further three years’ imprisonment in the Royal Court yesterday after admitting two counts of fraud and two of forgery.
He had already been jailed in November for rape, two counts of sexual penetration without consent, five counts of common or grave and criminal assault and three counts of voyeurism.
Crown Advocate William Redgrave described how the fraud started when he was released from prison in 2018, having served a sentence for violent offences.
To hide the fact he had been in jail, Roberts claimed that he had just returned from Sri Lanka, and that he owned property and funds there which he wasn’t able to access. In fact, he had never been to Sri Lanka and didn’t have any assets there, the court heard.
Through what was described as “snowballing” lies, he persuaded two couples that he was trying to build a business called Shinzo, a sushi-and-burger joint which would be aimed at customers who would spend more than £100 a head.
The couples, between 2018 and 2022, lent him hundreds of thousands of pounds. He told them he would be able to pay them back when he had access to his funds in Sri Lanka.
Roberts defrauded the victims of a total of around £800,000. One couple was left with £366,000 of debt, and the other – while receiving £350,000 back – remain £200,000 out of pocket.
When Roberts owned Shinzo, about £2.4 million came into the business – around bout half came from paying customers, while the other came from loans that he promised he could pay back from his made-up assets in Sri Lanka.
Around £188K went towards his personal expenditure, including paying for expensive hotels, restaurants, trips to London, gym memberships, and gambling.
Crown Advocate Redgrave added: “He treated them [the victims] with callous contempt, extracting what he could from them and not caring what the impact was on them.”
The fraud had a “grave impact” on the victims – affecting their families, relationships and their mental health, he said. Some also felt guilty for introducing Roberts to their friends and colleagues.
Roberts wrote a letter to the court and asked his advocate to apologise on his behalf.
Advocate Olaf Blakeley, defending, said that since he had started representing Roberts last November, he had seen “a wholesale change” in him.
“This court will be aware of how he presented at trial [in February 2024] and indeed at sentence [in November 2024]. The man you see before you today is very different than then man you saw then,” he said.
Roberts was jailed for another three years on top of the 15 years he is already serving.
Financial investigator Detective Constable Faith Shalamon said the investigation revealed “a consistent pattern of self-centred and controlling behaviour” in Roberts, which was “driven by his own personal gain”.
She said: “He misused investors’ funds to support a lavish lifestyle, frequently travelling to London, staying in five-star hotels, dining in expensive restaurants and engaging in other frivolous spending, all at the financial and emotional expense of others.”
She praised the victims’ “courage and resilience” and added: “The impact of fraud should never be underestimated. It goes far beyond financial loss – it erodes trust, destabilises lives, and can have lasting effects on mental health, relationships, and personal wellbeing.
“We hope today’s sentence brings some measure of closure to those affected.”
The Bailiff, Sir Timothy Le Cocq, was presiding, with Lieutenant-Baliff Robert Christensen and Jurats Karen Le Cornu, Andrew Cornish, Michael Berry and Michael Edmund Powell sitting.
