A former Warwick District Councillor has been jailed for eight months after he was charged with four counts of bankruptcy offences.

Sukhi Sanghera, 53, of Kempton Crescent, Lillington, pleaded not guilty to failing to disclose his ownership of a property in Walsgrave Road, Coventry, last year.

But on Thursday, October 27 at Warwick Crown Court he was sentenced for the offences.

At the hearing, which was delayed due to a case backlog, HHJ Cooke described him as a "profoundly flawed and dishonest man….who showed a flagrant disregard for the law and authorities".

The former Conservative councillor for Warwick Myton and Heathcote was made bankrupt in August 2017 by order of the County Court in Warwick, with debts of over £140,000.

As part of his bankruptcy, Sanghera was obliged to disclose all his assets to the Official Receiver and his trustees, including property.

But he failed to disclose to either set of trustees that he was the sole owner of a rental property in Coventry which yielded a monthly rental income of £1,900.

In August 2019, the Secretary of State approved a ten-year bankruptcy restriction from Sanghera after he did not dispute that he failed to disclose the property to the Official Receiver.

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Glenn Wicks, chief investigator for the Insolvency Service, said: "At multiple points Sukhi Sanghera had the opportunity to be honest and disclose to his trustees that he benefited from a rental property.

"Instead, Sukhi Sanghera went to great lengths to conceal the property in Coventry through fraud and deception to avoid paying his creditors what they were owed.

"The courts have recognised the severity of Sukhi Sanghera's actions and his custodial sentence demonstrates the risks people take if they don't declare all their assets when in a bankruptcy process."

Sanghera only served on the district council for a matter of months. Having been elected in May 2019 he was then removed from office when the bankruptcy order was put in place.