A businessman from Newton Abbot is facing tough bankruptcy sanctions after abusing the ‘Bounce Back Loan’ scheme five times during the Covid pandemic.

Matthew Littlechild from Mount Pleasant Road in Newton Abbot was found to have falsely claimed Bounce Back Loans worth a total of £250,000 for five of his businesses, including the Sea Trout Inn at Staverton, Totnes.

The 37-year-old overstated his turnover for each business so he could claim the maximum £50,000 Covid support loans for each one.

Mr Littlechild must now abide by tough bankruptcy restrictions that will prevent him from acting as a company director without the court’s permission or from holding certain roles in public organisations and from borrowing more than £500 without declaring he is subject to bankruptcy restrictions.

Littlechild set up four of the businesses involved in the abuse of the Bounce Back Loan scheme between April 2018 and November 2019. They included: Matthew Littlechild Business Consultancy; an event catering business known as Pig Out; Treby Essentials, a home food delivery company; and the ML Properties cleaning business. He also began running the Sea Trout in November 2019.

He applied for £50,000 Bounce Back Loans on behalf of all five businesses between May and June 2020. However, when Mr Littlejohn became bankrupt in January this year, the official receiver investigating his case discovered that the businessman had provided false information about the turnover of all five businesses to claim the money. Bounce Back Loan amounts were based on a company’s turnover in 2019.

Deputy official receiver at the Insolvency Service Samantha Crook said: ‘Matthew Littlechild repeatedly took advantage of a scheme designed to help businesses in genuine need, and abused taxpayers’ money when the country was facing one of its toughest times. We are pleased that these lengthy bankruptcies will help to protect the public from further financial harm.’

The Secretary of State for Business and Trade accepted a Bankruptcy Restrictions Undertaking from Mr Littlechild on Wednesday (August 21).

The official receiver continues to review potential asset realisations following the investigations.