A court in the United Kingdom has sentenced a banned company director, Steven Brookes, to three years’ imprisonment for lavishing £300,000 COVID-19 loan funds on family holidays and other personal spending.

Judge Nathaniel Rudolf of the Southwark Crown Court sentenced Mr Brookes, 40, on Thursday after he pleaded guilty to 11 charges of fraud and acting as a director despite his disqualification.

In addition to his jail term, Mr Rudolf also imposed another 10-year director ban on Mr Brookes, describing his actions as “calculated and greedy”.

Mr Brookes, of Victoria Road, Bude, Cornwall, was first disqualified as a company director for 11 years in April 2010 after he was convicted of stealing mobile phones.

Despite his disqualification, Mr Brookes applied for bounce-back loans totalling £300,000 between May and October 2020 across five companies, using his wife’s identity without her knowledge.

Prosecutors said he concealed his disqualification during the period and opened company bank accounts in his wife’s name to obtain the funds. He also inflated his companies’ turnover figures to secure larger loans.

Mr Brookes initially applied for a £50,000 loan for Blind Pig Media Limited after declaring the company’s turnover as £218,865 when it was actually £119,215. Weeks later, he applied for another £50,000 loan for the same company, even though he was entitled to only one.

In September 2020, he applied for another £50,000 loan for BPG Management Limited.

Later that same month, he obtained a £50,000 loan for Brookes Consultancy Limited, the fifth for The Pig Box Limited, and a £50,000 loan for Blind Pig Group. Prosecutors said he falsified turnovers for all companies he never used to trade.

“Brookes spent significant sums on a Disneyland trip, private school fees, an Audi, personalised number plates, and a family holiday to Tenerife,” prosecutors said.

He also spent some funds on a holiday rental in Tenerife, Spain’s Canary Islands; paint to decorate his rental property; and £7,000 fees for his daughter to attend an independent day and boarding school in Devon, South West England.

Prosecutors said rather than spend the funds on economic activities, Mr Brookes “treated them as a personal fund, spending sums at florists, lingerie retailers, and on paint to decorate his rental property” after making multiple transfers to joint accounts he held with his wife.

According to prosecutors, less than £7,500 of the £300,000 has been repaid.

“Brookes broke almost every rule going,” said David Snasdell, the chief investigator at the Insolvency Service. “He submitted false turnover figures, secured two loans when companies were only allowed one, and criminally misused the funds.”

Mr Snasdell said in a statement on the UK government website that the service had been investigating and prosecuting COVID-19 fraudsters since the pandemic and reaffirmed its commitment to enforcing director bans and holding wrongdoers accountable.