Fraud case against three ex-G4S executives collapses after 10 year investigation
Charges have been dropped against three former executives of G4S’s electronic tagging arm who were accused of defrauding the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) following a 10-year investigation.
G4S Care and Justice Services had provided electronic monitoring services to the government from 2005 to 2013.
The subsidiary of security giant G4S was accused of misleading the MoJ over the extent of its profits from the tagging contract.
In July 2020, the firm accepted responsibility for three counts of fraud and agreed to pay a financial penalty of £38.5m and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) costs of £5.9m.
Under the deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with the SFO, G4S could continue to be considered as a government supplier.
The DPA only applied to the potential criminal liability of G4S Care and Justice Services as a company, and not to any current or former employees.
Former managing director Richard Morris, 47, from Buckinghamshire, ex-commercial director Mark Preston, 51, from Cheshire, and former finance manager James Jardine, 41, from Cumbria had been charged with seven counts of fraud.
The SFO alleged the executives made false representations to the MoJ between 2009 and 2012.
At an Old Bailey hearing before Mr Justice Johnson on Friday, prosecutor Crispin Aylett KC gave no evidence in the case which was due to go to trial in April next year.
Mr Aylett said: “The decision to drop this case is not one that could be taken either quickly nor lightly.”
Following a “careful and comprehensive review” it was decided it was “no longer in the public interest” to proceed with a trial.
He recognised the impact of the case on the defendants who are of good character, adding: “We regret the way the case has turned out.”
Mr Aylett said: “The defendants have been under suspicion for 10 years and the prosecution are only too aware of the impact the proceedings will have had on them and their families.
“We recognised the potential unfairness of asking that this should go on for a substantial period of further time.”
The judge formally acquitted the defendants of the charges.
Speaking after being cleared of fraud charges, Mr Morris said: “I am delighted this matter has finally come to an end.
“From the outset, the allegations against me were plainly wrong.
“That it has taken 10 years for the SFO to acknowledge as much is a scandal.
“I’d like to thank my family, friends and colleagues for their support. I would also like to thank my legal team who have worked so determinedly to expose the truth and dismantle the SFO’s flawed case.
“I was shocked when I learnt that G4S had entered into a Deferred Prosecution Agreement accusing me of wrongdoing, a wholly untrue allegation.
“This amounted to G4S signing a false confession, plain and simple.
“The outcome of this case shows G4S’s decision to enter into a DPA was unfair and misguided.
“To later learn that the SFO accepted the DPA’s untrue narrative and decided to prosecute me without properly investigating the underlying evidence, was incomprehensible.
“I am of course pleased to be vindicated, but no one should have to go through such an ordeal.
“Without significant changes to the DPA regime and the SFO I fear they will.”
Mr Jardine’s lawyer Joanna Dimmock, said: “After 10 years of delay, mismanagement and misunderstanding of the evidence the SFO have finally recognised this case should never have been brought.
“The SFO knew in 2021 fundamental errors existed which impacted the safety of Mr Jardine’s case. What followed has been a litany of disclosure disasters and breaches by the SFO of over 60 court orders.
“Yet again the SFO has wasted millions of pounds of taxpayers money whilst three men’s lives have been ravaged and put on hold for nearly a decade.
“Mr Jardine is grateful that he can finally put the injustice of the last nine years behind him and begin to rebuild his future with his family.”
World
Israel says Hamas commander – who was one of the architects of the 7 October 2023 attacks – killed in strike
A senior Hamas commander who was one of the architects of the 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel has been killed in a strike on Gaza City, according to the country’s military.
Raed Saad was targeted in response to an attack by Hamas in which an explosive device injured two soldiers on Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement.
It is the highest-profile killing of a senior Hamas figure since the Gaza ceasefire came into effect in October.
Gaza health authorities said the attack on a car in Gaza City killed five people and wounded at least 25 others, but there has been no confirmation from Hamas or medics that Saed was among the dead.
Raed Saed
Hamas condemned the attack in a statement as a violation of the ceasefire agreement but stopped short of threatening retaliation.
An Israeli military official described Saed as a high-ranked Hamas member who helped establish and advance the group’s weapons production network.
“In recent months, he operated to re-establish Hamas’ capabilities and weapons manufacturing, a blatant violation of the ceasefire,” the official said.
The 10 October ceasefire has enabled hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return to Gaza City’s ruins after a war that began after Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and seized 251 hostages in an attack on southern Israel.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 70,700 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to health officials in Gaza.
Israel has pulled troops back from city positions, and aid flows have increased, but violence has not completely stopped.
Palestinian health authorities say Israeli forces have killed at least 386 people in strikes in Gaza since the truce, while Israel says three of its soldiers have been killed.
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World
Belarus pardons key opposition figure, among 123 prisoners, in exchange for US sanction relief
Belarus has pardoned 123 prisoners, including a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and a key opposition figure who challenged the presidential elections in 2020, in exchange for US sanctions relief.
Human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski and Maria Kolesnikova, a key figure in the mass protests that rocked the country in 2020, were among those released.
Earlier on Saturday, the Trump administration confirmed that the US was lifting sanctions on Belarus’s potash sector after officials held two days of talks in Minsk.
John Coale, the US special envoy for Belarus, also hinted that around 1,000 remaining political prisoners in Belarus could be released in the coming months as authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Russia, seeks to improve relations with Washington.
Separately, Ukraine confirmed it had received 114 prisoners released by Belarus. The other nine were received by Lithuania.
Maria Kolesnikova, 43, known for her close-cropped hair and trademark gesture of forming a heart with her hands, was one of dozens of released prisoners who arrived in Ukraine by coach on Saturday.
Maria Kolesnikova (right) celebrates being released from detention. Pic: Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War
“Of course, this feeling is incredible happiness,” she said in a video released on X from the Military Intelligence of Ukraine.
“At the same time, of course, I think about those people who are not yet free. I am very much looking forward to the moment when we can all hug each other, when we can all see one another, when we will all be free,” she added.
Ms Kolesnikova became a symbol of resistance when Belarusian authorities tried to deport her to Ukraine in September 2020. She broke away from security forces at the border, tore up her passport and walked back into Belarus.
Maria Kolesnikova became a symbol of resistance to Alexander Lukashenko’s regime. File pic: AP
The professional flautist was convicted in 2021 on charges including conspiracy to seize power and sentenced to 11 years in prison, but then fell seriously ill and underwent surgery.
Ales Bialiatski, 63, who founded Viasna, Belarus’ oldest and most prominent human rights group, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022 while awaiting trial for charges which were widely regarded as politically motivated.
After arriving in Lithuania, he spoke briefly to crowds outside the US embassy in Vilnius and said in English: “Never give up”.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski arrives in Lithuania after his release by Belarusian authorities. Pic: AP
He was seen by authorities as especially dangerous because of what Belarus alleged were his “extremist tendencies”.
Sentenced to 10 years in 2023, he had been held at a penal colony in Gorki, notorious for beatings and hard labour, and his health was deteriorating, according to his wife.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee expressed “profound relief and heartfelt joy” at the release of Mr Bialiatski and called on the Belarusian authorities “to release all political prisoners”.
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Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who is an opposition leader in exile and a close ally of Ms Kolesnikova, posted her delight on X: “Maria is free!”
She added: “For five years, we fought for Maria Kolesnikova’s freedom. I am deeply grateful to the US administration and our European partners who worked tirelessly to secure her release.
“Maria is in a safe place, and we hope to hear from her soon.”
Ukrainian officials said President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had also spoken to Ms Kolesnikova after her release, although they have not released any more details.
In a statement, published on the Telegram social media platform, the Military Intelligence of Ukraine confirmed more details of who had been released, including people “imprisoned for political reasons”.
Among the group were Viktar Babaryka, a former banker, jailed in 2021 after challenging Mr Lukashenko at the polls, and journalist Maryna Zolatava, who was imprisoned in 2023 on a range of charges including harming national security. Critics argue both sentences were politically motivated.
President Lukashenko has ruled the nation with an iron fist for more than three decades, but has been repeatedly sanctioned by Western countries both for its crackdown on human rights and for allowing Moscow to use its territory in the invasion of Ukraine.
Following the two-day talks, US envoy John Coale posted on X: “Another 156 political prisoners released thanks to President Trump’s leadership! An important step in U.S.-Belarus relations.”
It is not clear whether the figure includes previously released prisoners.
Speaking to the Reuters news agency on Saturday, Mr Coale said around 1,000 remaining political prisoners in Belarus could be released in the coming months.
“I think it’s more than possible that we can do that, I think it’s probable… We are on the right track, the momentum
is there.”
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko meeting John Coale, US special envoy, in Minsk for talks. Pic: President of the Republic of Belarus/Reuters
US officials eased some sanctions after meeting with President Lukashenko in September 2025. In response, Minsk freed more than 50 political prisoners into Lithuania, taking the total number freed by Belarus since July 2024 to more than 430.
Mr Coale also spoke about weather balloons which have flying over the border from Belarus into Lithuania.
“He [Mr Lukashenko] agreed recently to do everything he could to stop the balloons,” Mr Coale told the Reuters news agency.
Lithuania has declared a state of emergency over the balloons, used by cigarette smugglers, which have caused over a dozen closures of Vilnius airport in recent months.
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