A FORMER contestant in Lord Sugar’s hit The Apprentice admitted four counts of fraud yesterday.
Mortgage broker Christopher Farrell faced magistrates in Plymouth, Devon, charged with four counts of fraud by false representation.
Farrell, 29, from Arrowe Park Road, Upton, Wirral, spoke only to confirm his name, age and address and enter the guilty pleas.
He was originally arrested in August, shortly before the current series of the show – which finished on Sunday – was broadcast.
The former Royal Marine, who heard “You’re fired” from Lord Sugar in week eight of the show, made a guest appearance on Sunday night’s final when he was part of winner Stella English’s team creating, marketing and selling an alcoholic drink.
In pleading guilty, Farrell also asked for three further charges to be taken into consideration.
After hearing submissions from the prosecution and defence, magistrates decided their powers of sentence were insufficient and committed Farrell to Plymouth Crown Court to be sentenced on January 28.
They also ordered a pre-sentence report and released the former TV star on unconditional bail until sentencing.
Magistrates were told the mortgage adviser worked for a firm in Plymouth for nearly two years until he was sacked.
Prosecutor David Gittins explained Farrell, who earned a salary of £1,600 a month, would earn commission if he made sales of more than £5,000 a month.
Desperate to earn more money to support his wife and young family, Farrell started inflating the incomes of clients to ensure their mortgage applications were successful – thereby hitting his monthly sales target.
Farrell would either alter P60 forms or payslips to show his clients in a more favourable light to a mortgage lender or create fake documents, magistrates were told.
After Farrell was arrested, he first tried to blame his colleagues at Mortgages for Plymouth for forging the documents but quickly admitted his guilt – and pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.
“The Crown’s case is that by falsifying these documents the mortgage applications would be more readily accepted and so that he would receive more commission once his monthly target had been exceeded,” Mr Gittins said.
Tracey Baker, defending, said the monthly bonus for meeting sales targets amounted to between £300 and £400, and Farrell had never received it.
“He does not accept he was dismissed and says he resigned and there is a letter of resignation,” she told the court.
Miss Baker said Farrell carried out the fraud because he was under “pressure” to earn more money to support his family.
“This is a man who was married with a young child and it is those pressures that led him to commit these offences,” she said.
Magistrates decided their powers of sentence were insufficient, and committed Farrell to Plymouth Crown Court for sentence.
