Carl Tiltman (pictured), 56, put military lives at risk by selling the faulty equipment
A company boss who put military lives at risk by selling the Ministry of Defence (MoD) faulty equipment that was deployed on operations was jailed today for three years.
Carl Tiltman, 56, flogged the faulty equipment, including underwater scanners that were not fit for purpose, for £800,000.
Southwark Crown Court was told the equipment was used twice, potentially risking ‘life and limb’.
Tiltman, from Hawkchurch, Axminster, Devon, was jailed for three years and four months after admitting fraud by abuse of position and fraud by false representation.
Sentencing him, Judge Christopher Hehir said: ‘Your offending caused large actual and potential loss to the MoD as well as non financial losses and risk including there being some risks to life and limb of service personnel.’
And prosecutor John Greany said: ‘They deployed the equipment and, of course, hoped it would gather helpful results.
‘Mr Tiltman gave further presentation in December 2017 that on that operation images had been successfully generated.
‘That, of course, turned out to be false because they actually produced no results at all. They subsequently deployed for a second time on operations.’
The MoD invested £500,000 in the scanners and a further £300,000 was spent on chartering a vessel to test the equipment and on training.
Tiltman was the former chief executive of Dorset-based Subsea Asset Location Technologies (SALT), a firm set up in 2009 to provide underwater scanning technology and consultancy to the MoD.
He had previously worked as a sonar engineer for DSTL, the MoD’s research and development branch, but he tricked the Royal Navy into purchasing scanners, which they hoped would take pictures of ships, by making false testing results.
He fabricated images when giving a presentation to a member of the Navy, referred to as Soldier A in proceedings. The faulty equipment was then deployed twice when Navy personnel ‘risked life and limb.’
Mr Greany said: ‘Mr Tillman recommend that the Royal Navy purchased equipment costing over £1 million which he knew was not fit for purpose at that time.
‘He knew it couldn’t do fit the bill for what the MoD wanted it to do which was capture images of ships in detail as they float on the surface of the water. Over £800,000 was wasted. About £140,000 of that was an initial investment which everybody knew was at risk so the crown has not factored that in.
Tiltman, from Devon, arrives at Southwark Crown Court, where he was sentenced to three years and four months after admitting fraud by abuse of position and false representation
‘The actual loss was over £500,000, that doesn’t include the substantial and additional staff retraining costs let alone the operation costs to deployment, real time employment of armed forces on operations by sea, the costs of which are extremely difficult to quantify but they are substantial.’
He continued: ‘After the initial investment in February 2017 there were tests in late April, possibly running to early May, and the deception started in earnest in may of 2017. At that stage Mr Tiltman gave formal representation to Solder A in which he gave specific claims about what the scanning equipment could achieve.
‘The slides and the results which he showed Soldier A which he said suggests the equipment was fit for purpose had all been fabricated by Mr Tiltman and he had used the rough shapes on some of the slides for his own more detailed fabrications and contrary to all he asserted in these slides, the equipment could not be proven to be capable of what everybody hoped it would be capable of in due course.’
Tiltman today stood in the dock at Southwark Crown Court dressed casually in a red fleece over a red polo shirt and dark trousers.
The court also heard Tillman had told co-worker Nigel Hill he had been talking to clients and regulators about a new technology, Skybell, to locate aircraft.
Mr Greany said: ‘Between 2016 and 2018 Carl Tiltman had reported ongoing discussions with Airbus which was seen as a potential purchaser and Mr Tiltman said that they were preparing to place an order for the Skybell. He gave the impression that communications were ongoing but communications had ceased in mid 2016.
‘He also told Nigel Hill that he had been in regular contact with regulatory bodies throughout 2017 but in fact in transpired that contact had ceased in 2016. He invented meetings which had never, in fact, occurred or had occurred but he hadn’t been present.’
Southwark Crown Court (pictured) was told the faulty equipment, including underwater scanners, was used twice, possibly risking ‘life and limb’
It was not until January 2018 that Mr Hill found out about Tiltman’s trickery.
Jonathan Lennon, defending, said: ‘He found himself working with a specialist military unit with people of the highest calibre. It was not the sort of pressure it was used to. He started feeling the pressure and wanted to resign but what was at stake was the future of the company.
‘He says he attempts to resign in 2015 and was told by Mr Hill that there would be no company without him. He bitterly regrets that. His motivations were dishonest but well intentioned.’
Concluding the hearing, Judge Hehir said: ‘Your offending was clearly very serious indeed. It was committed in breach of a very high degree of trust.
‘Your offending was protracted in time. It caused or contributed to very severe financial loss and damage including the company SALT going into liquidation.’
He added: ‘Your offending was not fraudulent from the outset and was not motivated by financial gain. However, your offending is so serious that only a custodial sentence will do in your case and it must be of a length which will not permit me to suspend it.
‘I am entirely satisfied that you caused at least half a million of actual financial losses. It’s likely the losses that you acutely caused were far higher than that.
Tiltman was sentenced to three years and four months in prison.