A company director accused of bullying and lying to customers has walked free from court after the Crown case against him collapsed.
Cresswell Welch went on trial at Perth Sheriff Court accused of mis-selling caravans at sites in Arbroath and Blairgowrie.
It was alleged he misled customers by lying about the age of their mobile homes.
The 59-year-old head of Crown Park Sales Ltd was further accused of aggressively threatening a customer and coercing him into taking on a residential mobile home against his wishes.
After two days of evidence, Mr Welch was found not guilty.
It followed a legal challenge by Mr Welch’s solicitor Nick Whelan, who successfully argued there was no case to answer.
Sheriff Jillian Martin-Brown told jurors she had decided there was insufficient evidence to proceed with the remaining charges.
Speaking outside court, the businessman said: “This has been hanging over me for four years and I’ve done nothing wrong.
“I’ll just be glad to put it behind me.”
Alleged £79,500 fraud
Mr Welch, of Seaton Road, Arbroath, was originally charged with five alleged breaches of consumer protection regulations and an allegation of fraud.
Charges related to sites at Marlee Loch, near Blairgowrie, and Seaton Estate, Arbroath.
Before the jury was brought in on Tuesday, prosecutors dropped two charges, including claims he had defrauded a 74-year-old woman by inducing her to buy a £79,500 decade-old caravan, claiming it was three years old.
And during the trial, Mr Welch was further cleared of engaging in an aggressive commercial practice against James Wadman and harassing and coercing him into accepting a mobile home against his wishes.
Mr Welch was also found not guilty of misleading couple Martin and Senga Burke about the age of their caravan and falsely stating to them site fees were £2,000.
Of the two remaining charges, Mr Whelan argued there was no evidence his client had misled customer John Robertson, 76, who told the trial he moved into a Marlee Loch mobile home believing it was two years old and under warranty.
He later found his electricity box was dated 2006.
Mr Whelan pointed out Mr Robertson said he was told about the age of the caravan by the site’s manager, not Mr Welch.
The solicitor said, in his evidence, Mr Wadman told the trial he had never asked about the age of his mobile home.
Customer’s ‘world fell apart’
Before the trial ended, jurors heard from Mr Wadman via a video link from a court in England.
He said “his world had fallen apart” when he was told a residential home he had ordered from Mr Welch’s company was “nowhere near ready”, leaving him facing homelessness.
Mr Wadman said he accepted a smaller model home at Marlee Loch but only stayed there for about three-and-a-half months.
In 2020, Crown Park Sales reached an out-of-court settlement with Mr and Mrs Burke after they claimed their £37,500 Willerby Vogue caravan was 12 years older than they were told.
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